SERUM AUTOANTIBODY AGAINST INTERLEUKIN-1-ALPHA IS UNRELATED TO THE ETIOLOGY OR ACTIVITY OF LIVER-DISEASE BUT CAN BE RAISED BY INTERFERON TREATMENT

Objective: To clarify the clinical significance of serum levels of int erleukin-1 alpha autoantibody in liver disease and their change during interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis, Methods: By radioimmunoassa y, we studied the incidence of serum interleukin-1 alpha autoantibody in 838 healthy controls and 180 patients with liver disease and monito red the change in antibody titer during the interferon therapy for chr onic hepatitis, Results: We detected the interleukin-1 alpha autoantib ody in 12.6% (106/838) of healthy controls, In patients with liver dis ease, we found the antibody in 15.6% (5/32) in patients with acute hep atitis, 16.3% (13/80) in patients with chronic hepatitis, 18.8% (9/48) in patients with liver cirrhosis, and 15% (3/20) in patients with aut oimmune liver disease, The incidence was not related to either etiolog y or inflammatory activity of liver disease, Two of three chronic hepa titis patients with initially high serum levels of the antibody (>2000 ng/ml) showed transient increase in antibody titers during interferon therapy, Conclusion: The serum level of interleukin-1 alpha autoantib ody was unrelated to the etiology or activity of liver disease, Interf eron therapy can cause transient elevation of serum interleukin-1 alph a autoantibody levels.