Patients with autoimmune
chronic active hepatitis (AICAH) and some other chronic liver disorders often have very high titres of
rubella HI
antibodies. In the present study sera from 46 patients with chronic
liver disease and controls were examined for
rubella antibodies using radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) and Western blot. RIPA appeared to be more suitable than Western blot for the study of the individual antibody specificities provided that
proteins (possibly actin) interfering with the resolution of the E2
glycoprotein band are identified. It was shown that patients with high
rubella HI titres reacted strongly against the E1
glycoprotein and in general also against the core
protein (C). Reactivity to the E2
glycoprotein was detected with all sera from patients with chronic
liver disease but varied more in strength. Three patients with post-acute
rubella showed very faint E2 reactivity, but strong E1 and C reactivities. Patients with
primary biliary cirrhosis had normal HI titres and showed no increase in reactivity in RIPA. The present findings show that patients with chronic
liver disease and high
rubella HI antibody titres exhibit an enhanced specific antibody response to rubella virus structural
proteins.