Objective: To investigate the significance of autoantibodies in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC).
Methods: A anti-mitochondrial antibodies-M2(AMA-M2), anti-BCOADC-E2 PDC-E2 OGDC-E2 antibodies (anti-3E/BPO), anti-SP100 antibodies (anti-SP100), anti-promyelocytic leukemia (anti-PML), anti-gp210 antibodies (anti-gp210),and anti-Ro-52 were detected respectively in 330 suspected PBC cases by Western blotting.
Results: (1) The sensitivity/specificity rates of AMA-M2,anti-3E/BPO,anti-SP100,anti-PML,anti-gp210,and anti-Ro-52 were 85.3%/84.8%, 79.4%/93.2 %, 35.3%/98.0%, 41.2%/96.3%, 44.1%/96.6%,61.8%/68.6% respectively; AMA-M2 were combined with the other antibodies. The specificity rates in the series tests were 94.9%, 99.3%, 99.3 %, 98.3%, and 92.2%, while the sensitivity rates in the parallel tests were 91.2%, 94.1%, 94.1%, 94.1%, and 1.2%,respectively .(2)There were 5 cases of AMA-M2 negative in patients with PBC,including 60% (3/5) cases of anti-gp210, anti-SP100 and anti-PML positive respectively.
Conclusion: (1) AMA-M2 were more sensitive than other antibodies, while the specificity rates of anti-3E/BPO , anti-SP100, anti-PML, and anti-gp210 were higher than that of AMA-M2; Parallel tests helps to exclude the suspected PBC cases and series tests could be useful in clinics to confirm the PBC cases. (2) anti-gp210, anti-SP100, anti-PML antibodies appear to be more common in AMA-M2 negative PBC patients than in those who are AMA-M2 positive,and their presence in AMA-M2 negative PBC patients contributes to the PBC diagnosis.