IMMUNOLOGICAL ABNORMALITIES IN POSTTRANSF USIONAL CHRONIC HEPATITIS

Objectives: To study some aspects of the immunological abnormalities o f C and non-A non-B non-C postransfusional chronic hepatitis through t he spontaneous and mitogen-stimulated ''in vitro'' production of immun oglobulins by peripheral blood lymphocytes. Experimental design: Perip heral blood lymphocytes from non-A non-B postransfusional chronic hepa titis patients and from healthy volunteers were cultured in presence a nd absence of Pokeweed mitogen and the secreted immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA and IgM) were measured by ELISA in the supernatants. The results i n both groups were compared. Patients: 23 postransfusional chronic hep atitis patients, 11 males and 12 females with an average age of 46,73 +/- 11,2 yrs (range: 24-69 yrs), have been studied. The histological d iagnosis was chronic active hepatitis (CAH) in 13 cases, CAH with brid ge necrosis in 6 patients and CAH with associated cirrosis in 4 cases. The control group was composed by 11 healthy volunteers, 5 male and 6 female, with an average age of 38,45 +/- 12,77 yrs (range: 26-65 yrs) . No one of the control group was positive for anti-HCV antibodies whi le in the postransfusional chronic hepatitis patients group, 19 were p ositive and 4 negative. Results: No significant differences in the spo ntaneous production of immunoglobulins between both groups has been fo und, however, when peripheral blood lymphocytes were stimulated with P okeweed mitogen, a statistically significant lower production of immun oglobulins was observed in chronic hepatitis patients when compared wi th the control group. In non-A non-B postransfusional chronic hepatiti s patients, no relation has been found between the immunoglobulins pro duction and histological findings or anti-HCV antibody titles. Conclus ions: In the chronic phase of C and non-A non-B non-C postransfusional chronic hepatitis, stimulated immunoglobulin production is significan tly decreased for each immunoglobulin compared with the control group. These results suggest a failure in T-B lymphocyte cooperation in thes e infections since 82,6% of our patients were positive for HCV serolog ical markers.