Serological biomarker of autoimmune liver diseases

Abstract

Autoimmune liver diseases (ALD) are the group of liver diseases caused by the immune system that damage cells and tissues of the liver. The patients with this disease have chronic hepatitis or severe hepatitis and up to liver failure. The detection of liver-related autoantibodies is very important for serological diagnosis, monitoring and classification of ALD, such as autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), etc. Serological markers of ALD include anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) and anti-smooth muscle antibodies (ASMA) are found in AIH type 1, while anti-liver kidney microsome antibodies type-1 (anti-LKM1) and/or anti-liver cytosol type-1 (anti-LC1) are found in AIH type 2.Anti-mitochondria antibodies (AMA) are specific to PBC. On the other hand, atypical perinuclear anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (P-ANCA) are highly detectable in PSC. Most of the autoantibody tests used indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) on different substrate in each type. In addition, there are many other specific autoantibodies that are detected using enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and line immunoassay (LIA). In conclusion, this review focuses on the serological marker of autoantibodies in each ALD group used in the laboratory for the benefit of medical personnel.