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Patients with Sjögren’s syndrome may have higher risk for HCV
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Hepatitis C virus immunoglobulin-G antibodies were detected in 8% to 13% of patients with Sjögren’s syndrome, depending on the classification criteria used, and in 45% of patients who met certain criteria, and rates were highest in patients with certain immunological profiles, according to researchers in Barcelona, Spain.
Researchers studied 783 patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) classified according to the 1993 European criteria, of whom 60% met 2002 American-European criteria and 64% met the preliminary 2012 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for SS; 29 patients met the 2012 criteria but not 2002 criteria.
Patients were evaluated clinically and serologic analysis included detection of anti-nuclear antibodies (ANAs) and anti-Ro, anti-La, U1-snRNP and Sm antibodies. Complement, immunoglobulins and cryoglobulins were measured and demographic data was collected.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) immunoglobulin-G (IgG) antibodies were detected in 13.4 of all patients who met 1993 criteria for SS. Seventeen were men and 88 were women with a mean age at diagnosis of 62.9 years. Of patients who met 2002 criteria, 8% had HCV IgG antibodies. In patients who fulfilled 2012 ACR criteria, 10% tested positive for HCV IgG antibodies, while 19% of patients who met only the 1993 criteria had HCV IgG antibodies. Of patients who met 2012 criteria but not 2002 criteria, 45% of the patients with SS had positive HCV IgG antibody tests.
Univariate analysis revealed a higher mean age among patients who had positivity for HCV IgG antibodies, and positive patients were more likely to be men, less likely to meet 2002 criteria, were more likely to test positive for rheumatoid factor, have low complements levels and less likely to have anti-Ro or anti-La antibodies, among other similarities.
“These findings suggest that, in patients with SS, the autoimmune response against the human La protein is significantly altered by the concomitant presence of HCV infection, an abnormal response probably related to the use of human ribonucleoproteins by the virus,” the researchers wrote. – by Shirley Pulawski
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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