Serum concentrations of soluble HLA-class I and CD8 forms in patients with viral hepatic disorders

Soluble HLA-class I and CD8 molecules were determined by sandwich ELISA in patients with viral-induced hepatic disorders. As a whole, the patients with hepatic disorders (acute hepatitis: AH; chronic hepatitis: CH; liver cirrhosis: LC; hepatocellular carcinoma: HCC) showed higher sHLA-class I and sCD8 levels than normal controls (P<0.001). AH patients had the highest sHLA-class I levels (mean, 3513±2112ng/ml), followed by CH (2896±1290ng/ml), LC (2293±1266ng/ml), and HCC (2221±1212ng/ml) sCD8 levels were highest in AH, followed by HCC, LC, and CH, in that order. Among histologically defined C virus-positive patients, sHLA-I levels were higher in those with chronic active hepatitis (CAH) 2A (3802±1124ng/ml) than in those with chronic persistent hepatitis (CPH; 2200±711ng/ml;P<0.01), the levels then decreased as the disease progressed (CAH2B, 3564±1783ng/ml, LC, 2376±1265ng/ml). In contrast, sCD8 values showed little difference among the disorders. sHLA-class I levels showed a positive correlation with sCD8 values both in whole patients and in patients with AH (P<0.01), but no correlation was shown, in any patients, with biochemical parameters such as GPT and GOT. These findings, taken together, suggest that hepatic destruction is not the only cause of sHLA-class I production, but that sHLA-class I levels, together with sCD8 levels, may reflect immunological activity in hepatic disorders.