Liver membrane antibodies in chronic delta hepatitis.

de Torres M, Carreño V, Bartolomé J, Porres JC, Bas C, Quiroga JA, Mora I.

Department of Gastroenterology, Fundacion Jimenez Diaz, Madrid, Spain.

The correlation between the presence of liver membrane antibodies (LMA) and delta superinfection in chronic hepatitis B was studied in 136 chronic hepatitis patients, 20 hepatitis B surface antigen asymptomatic carriers and 50 healthy controls, by testing for the presence of LMA, hepatitis B virus markers and anti-delta (anti-HD). Neither anti-HD nor LMA were detected in controls or in asymptomatic carriers. LMA positivity was statistically higher (p less than 0.001) in anti-HD-positive patients than in those with no anti-HD. Gamma globulin and glutamic pyruvic transaminase values were increased both in anti-HD- and LMA-positive patients with respect to those who were negative. In conclusion, a close association between the positivity to anti-HD and the presence of circulating LMA was found.