ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Primary biliary cirrhosis in female subjects with sicca-associated antibodies

Authors

Kunio Takada¹, Kimihiro Suzuki¹, Mitsuyo Matsumoto¹, Makoto Okada¹, Takashi Nakanishi¹, Hideyuki Horikoshi¹, Tomoaki Higuchi¹ and Fumitaka Ohsuzu¹

1. Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, National Defense Medical College, 3-2 Namiki, Tokorozawa 359-8513, Japan

Received:

02 July 2007

Accepted:

20 August 2007

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to clarify the time course of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) in subjects possessing anticentromere antibodies (ACA), anti-Ro, and/or anti-La antibodies, and who used alkaline phosphatase (ALP) as a serological marker for PBC. Female subjects (n = 165), who had at least one of ACA, anti-Ro, and/or anti-La, were enrolled in this study. Groups A (ACA alone, n = 44), B (anti-Ro alone, n = 54), E (anti-Ro and anti-La, n = 52), and DFG (ACA with anti-Ro and/or anti-La, n = 14) were analyzed. Healthy females (n = 65) were used as a control. The frequencies of the PBC in groups A (13.6%) and DFG (14.3%) were higher than those in groups B (1.9%) and E (0.0%). The ALP levels increased with age in groups A and DFG and slightly increased with age in groups B and C, and the control group. After correcting for age by analysis of covariance, a comparison of ALP levels among the groups not having anti-M2 was as follows: group A ≒ group DFG > group B ≒ group E ≒ the control group. The subjects with ACA might thus have PBC more frequently than either those with anti-Ro and/or anti-La, or the control subjects.

Key words

Alkaline phosphatase - Anticentromere antibodies - Anti-La antibodies - Anti-Ro antibodies - Primary biliary cirrhosis