Investigation of liver autoantibodies in anticentromere antibody positive patients: A preliminary research

Background: Anticentromere antibody (ACA) is regarded to be a serological marker specific to CREST (calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, esophageal dysmotility, sclerodactylia, and telangiectasia) syndrome. ACA is also found in the sera of patients with autoimmune liver disease. In the present work, anti-soluble liver antigenliver pancreas antigen (anti-SLALP), anti-liver cytosolic antigen 1 (anti-LC1), anti-liver kidney microsomal antigen 1 (anti-LKM1), and anti-mitochondrial antibody M2 (AMA-M2) were evaluated in the patients who had positive anticentromere antibody. Material and Methods: A total of 39 patients who were positive anticentromere antibody were enrolled in this study undertaken in the Izmir Katip Celebi University, Ataturk Training and Research Hospital, Microbiology laboratory between January and September 2015. Positive anticentromere antibody and liver autoantibodies were analyzed. Anticentromere antibody and liver autoantibodies were studied by indirect immunofluorescence method (IIF) and immunoblotting method (IB), respectively. The patients who had negative anticentromere antibody were used as a control group. Results: According to the study's results, positivity was detected in 3 of 39 patients (%7.6) in terms of liver autoantibodies, all of which were AMA-M2. There was no statistically significant difference between ACA and autoimmune liver autoantibodies. Conclusion: In this study, we reported our preliminary experience to provide evidence for the detection of various autoantibodies as potential diagnostic or prognostic tests. Further studies that contain a broad range of patients may contribute to the field.