Gastric autoimmune disorders in patients with chronic hepatitis C before, during and after interferon-alpha therapy

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of patients

Patients (n)	189
Age (year) ± SD	58 ± 18
Sex (M/F)	95/94
ALT (U/L) ± SE	142 ± 8
AST (U/L) ± SE	103 ± 7
Genotype 1-4 vs others	115 vs 74	61 vs 39%
Anti-Hp positive antibody	60	31.8%
Gastrin (pg/ml)(median ± SE)	52.0 ± 10.4
TSH (UI/ml)	2.2 ± 0.15
ANA positive (n)	34	18%
AMA positive (n)	-
ASMA positive (n)	57	30%
LKM positive (n)	1	0.5%
APCA positive (n)	3	1.6%
ATM positive (n)	15	7.8%
Liver histology (n)
CAH without cirrhosis (n)	138	73%
CAH with cirrhosis (n)	51	27%

Table 2 Variations of APCA positivity and hypergastrinemia in IFN treated patients

	Before IFN n (%)	IFN withdrawal n (%)	12 mo after withdrawal n (%)
APCA positivity	3 (1.6%)	25 (13%)a	7 (4%)bd
Hypergastrinemia	9 (5%)	31(16%)a	14 (7%)cd

^aP < 0.001 vs before IFN;

^bP < 0.002 vs IFN withdrawal;

^cP < 0.01 vs IFN withdrawal;

^dP = not significant vs before IFN.

Table 3 Organ-specific and non-organ-specific autoantibodies

	Before IFN + (%)	IFN withdrawal + (%)	12 mo after withdrawal+(%)
Organ-specific antibodies
TPO	14 (8.0%)	39 (20.6%)a	23 (12.2%)
Non-organ-specific antibodies
ANA	34 (18.0%)	45 (24.0%)	41 (22.0%)
SMA	56 (30.0%)	62 (33.0%)	60 (31.0%)
AMA	-	1 (0.5%)	1 (0.5%)
LMK 1	1 (0.5%)	3 (1.6%)	2 (1.1%)

^aP < 0.001 vs before IFN; P = 0.036 vs 12 mo after IFN withdrawal.