Association between HLA-B40 and acute alcoholic hepatitis with cirrhosis and the lack of relation between carcinoembryonic antigen and HLA antigens in alcoholic liver disease.

The frequency of HLA-B40 was significantly increased in 30 patients with acute alcoholic hepatitis with cirrhosis (63%) and in 60 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis with or without acute alcoholic hepatitis (48%) compared with its frequency in 234 healthy blood donors (18%). The HLA-B40 frequency was not increased in 20 patients with acute alcoholic hepatitis without cirrhosis (0%), in 41 patients with fatty liver infiltration (12%), or in 67 alcoholics with moderate biochemical abnormalities (19%). The association between HLA-B40 and alcoholic liver cirrhosis and acute alcoholic hepatitis with cirrhosis favors the idea that these disorders might be genetically determined. There was, however, no difference in the distribution of the HLA antigens in 54 patients with different degrees of alcoholic liver disease and an elevated carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) value of greater than or equal to 5.0 micrograms/l compared with 61 alcoholics with different degrees of liver disease and a normal CEA value. Thus, the results of HLA-A and -B typing gave no evidence of genetic susceptibility to develop a CEA elevation in patients with alcoholic liver disease.