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Antibodies to Filamentous Actin (F-Actin) in the Diagnosis of Type 1 Autoimmune Hepatitis

Description

Antibodies to filamentous actin (F-actin, polymerized actin) can be useful for the diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis type 1 (AIH-1). An ELISA test has the advantage of being operator independent, which can be an issue for indirect immunofluorescent assays.


 

It correlates with smooth muscle antibodies (SMA) that stain rat kidneys in a peritubular (SMA-T) and glomerular (SMA-G) pattern.

 

Conditions with elevated antibodies to F-actin:

(1) type 1 autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) – often ANA positive

(2) acute or chronic active viral hepatitis – with positive serologic markers for viral hepatitis

 

Sensitivity for type 1 AIH: around 75-80% (20-25% negative)

Specificity for type 1 AIH: 90-98%

 


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