Hepatitis C virus Infection is Frequently Associated with High Titers of Anti-thyroid Antibodies

Abstract

Objective: To assess the implication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the development of autoimmune thyroid response, thyroid autoantibodies were studied in serum of HCV positive patients. Methods: Anti-microsomal, anti-thyroperoxidase (anti-TPO) and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies were evaluated in the sera of 100 patients with chronic hepatitis C (53 women and 47 men; mean age = 55&#x00B1;5 years). In parallel, thyroid autoantibodies were investigated in blood samples obtained from two separated control groups: age-matched HCV negative-HBV positive patients (25 women, 25 men; mean age= 47&#x00B1;6 years) and healthy blood donors (29 women and 21 men; mean age= 54&#x00B1;8 years). Results: Anti-thyroid antibodies were found more frequently in HCV positive women when compared to the men (8/53= 15.1&#x0025; vs 0/47= 0&#x0025;,.p<0.01).The prevalence of these autoantibodies was not statistically different between HCV positive and healthy female blood donors. However the investigation of thyroid autoantibody titers showed significantly higher levels of anti-TPO and anti-microsomal antibodies in HCV positive women in comparison with healthy women controls (respectively 1: 83200 vs 1: 1900 and 834 vs 23, p<0,01). Conclusions: This strong association between HCV infection and high levels of anti-thyroid autoantibodies in women outlines the interest of systematic detection of anti-microsomal and/or anti-TPO antibodies in this population.