ANTIGLIADIN ANTIBODY CLASSES IN CHRONIC LIVER-DISEASE

Antigliadin antibody (AGA) subtypes (IgG and IgA class) were tested in sera from 67 patients with chronic liver disease of different aetiology (29 with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), 31 with chronic non-A non-B hepatitis, and 7 with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis (CAH) compared with 23 subjects with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Nineteen patients with coeliac disease served as positive controls. IgA-AGA alone were found in 3.4% of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis and in 3.2% of non-A, non-B CAH. IgG-AGA alone were found in 1.3% of patients with IBD, in 6.8% of primary biliary cirrhosis and in 14.2% of autoimmune CAH. IgA-AGA and IgG-AGA together were found in 6.8% of PBC and in 1 patient with autoimmune CAH. Jejunal biopsy, performed in 7 out of the 2 patients with both IgA and IgG-AGA, showed the characteristic features of coeliac disease in one subject with autoimmune CAH. The same patient had the highest titre of AGA. In conclusion, these results indicate that AGA (either IgG and IgA) can be present at low titre in chronic liver disease and their presence may be secondary to the liver damage per se. High titres of AGA in chronic liver disease may suggest a real association with coeliac disease.