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World J Gastroenterol. Jun 28, 2006; 12(24): 3919-3923
Published online Jun 28, 2006. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v12.i24.3919
Significance of serum IgA in patients with acute hepatitis E virus infection
De-Ying Tian, Yan Chen, Ning-Shao Xia
De-Ying Tian, Yan Chen, Department of Infectious Diseases, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, Hubei Provice, China
Ning-Shao Xia, Key Laboratory of Education for Cell Biology and Tumor Cell Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, Fujian Provice, China
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: De-Ying Tian, Department of Infectious Diseases, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, Hubei Provice, China. dytian@tjh.tjmu.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-27-83662676
Received: August 31, 2005
Revised: January 10, 2006
Accepted: January 14, 2006
Published online: June 28, 2006
Abstract

AIM: To study the significance of serum anti-hepatitis E virus (HEV) IgA in patients with hepatitis E.

METHODS: A new method was established to assay anti-HEV IgA, which could be detected in the middle phase of the infection. We compared anti-HEV IgA assay with anti-HEV IgM and anti-HEV IgG assay in sera from 60 patients with positive HEV-RNA.

RESULTS: The 60 patients with positive HEV-RNA had both anti-HEV IgA and anti-HEV IgM and 410 patients with negative HEV-RNA were used as control. Periodic serum samples obtained from 60 patients with hepatitis E were tested for HEV RNA, anti-HEV IgM, anti-HEV IgA and anti-HEV IgG. Their HEV-RNA was detectable in the serum until 20 ± 11 d. We used anti-HEV IgM and anti-HEV IgA assay to detect HEV infection and positive results were found in 90 ± 15 d and 120 ± 23 d respectively, the positive rate of anti-HEV IgA was higher than that of anti-HEV IgM and HEV-RNA (P <0.05).

CONCLUSION: The duration of anti-HEV IgA in serum is longer than that of anti-HEV IgM, and anti-HEV IgA assay is a good method to detect HEV infection.

Keywords: Hepatitis E virus; RNA; Anti-HEV IgM; Anti-HEV IgA