الفهرس 
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Abstract
Summary
HCV is one of the major health concerns all over the world where it is the
main contributing factor of chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis, and is also
considered as the most common reason for liver transplantation. HCV affects
about 170 -200 million people around the world (~3% of the global
population).
The relation between non-organ specific autoantibodies (NOSA) and HCV
infection has been investigated within different communities resulting in
different prevalence rates and patterns.
In the current study we have studied the prevalence of some non-organ
specific autoantibodies (NOSA) such as RF, ANA, ASMA and LKM-1 in
Egyptian HCV patients group in comparison with Egyptian healthy controls
group.
A total of 186 HCV-positive serum samples (tested by anti-HCV antibody and
confirmed by PCR) in addition to 81 samples from healthy control (with no
HCV infection) were screened for the presence of some autoantibodies
namely, RF, ANA, ASMA and LKM-1 using ELISA technique for all
autoantibodies except for RF which was assayed by latex agglutination
technique. The presence of these autoantibodies was tested in relation to some
demographic variables and viral titers.
Associations were assessed using logistic regression analysis adjusted for
potential confounders. Among patients, 100 (53.7%) of 186 while 6 (7.4%) of
Summary
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81 healthy control group were positive for at least one autoantibody.
Furthermore, 2 patients (1%) were positive for three autoantibodies whereas
22 patients (11.7%) were positive for 2 autoantibodies. The most prevalent
autoantibody in HCV positive group was RF-IgG (87, 46.7%) followed by
ASMA (26, 14%) and ANA (13, 7%) while the lowest prevalence was for
LKM-1 (2, 1%).
The frequency of autoantibodies was bit higher in females (61%) as compared
to males (49%). Also, the prevalence of autoantibodies showed a tendency to
be higher (57.3%) in individuals of age 2 category [41-60years] as compared
to younger individuals (45.5%) of age 1 category [20-40years] and older
individual (51.6%) of age 3 category [61-80years] with HCV. On contrast, in
control group the prevalence of autoantibodies showed a tendency to be
higher (8.2%) in youngest individuals age 1 category [20-40years] and absent
in older individuals categories 2 [41-60years] and 3 [61-80years].
With regard to HCV RNA level in relation to autoantibodies levels, we
showed here that autoantibody positivity among HCV RNA levels <105 IU/ml
was lower (33.3%) than that of HCV RNA levels ≥105 IU/ml (66.6%).
Taken together, the current study reports a non-significant difference in
prevalence of NOSA between patients with HCV infection and healthy
individuals except for ASMA. Likewise, no significant difference was found
in prevalence of such autoantibodies when correlated with some demographic
variables.