Clinical features and autoantibody characteristics of patients with drug-induced liver injury: An analysis of 419 cases / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical features and autoantibody characteristics of patients with drug-induced liver injury (DILI). Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the patients with abnormal liver function who were admitted to Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, from September 2014 to September 2018 and were diagnosed with DILI based on RUCAM score, and related data on admission were collected, including baseline liver function, renal function, routine blood test results, five immune indices, autoantibody, and liver biopsy results. The t -test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between two groups, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two groups; the chi-square test was used to compare the detection rate of autoantibody between the patients with different sexes or types of liver injury. A logistic regression analysis was used to investigate whether autoantibody had a regression relationship with sex, age, and type of injury, and an ordinal logistic regression analysis was performed with baseline laboratory results as independent variables and anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) titer as the dependent variable. Results A total of 419 patients with DILI were enrolled in the study, with a median age of 47 (35-55) years, among whom male patients accounted for 32.5% (136/419) and female patients accounted for 67.5% (283/419). Among these 419 patients, 88 (21.5%) had hepatocellular-type liver injury, 87 (21.2%) had mixed-type liver injury, and 235 (57.3%) had cholestasis-type liver injury. The detection rate of autoantibodies was 50.6% (212/419), and the detection rate of ANA was 42.9% (180/419), with a titer of mainly 1∶ 100 (104/180). There was no significant difference in the detection rate of autoantibodies between the patients with different sexes ( χ 2 =2.658, P =0.103) or different types of injury ( χ 2 =0.859, P =0.651). The binary logistic regression analysis showed that autoantibody did not have a regression relationship with sex, age, and type of injury (all P > 0.05) There were significant differences in prothrombin time activity (PTA) and international normalized ratio (INR) between the positive autoantibody group and the negative autoantibody group ( t =2.161, P =0.031; Z =-3.010, P =0.003). The ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that INR (odds ratio [ OR ]=3.101, P =0.040) and IgG ( OR =1.043, P =0.014) were associated with ANA grade. Conclusion There is a relatively high detection rate of autoantibodies in patients with DILI, and the detection rate of autoantibodies is not associated with sex, age, or type of injury. There are differences in PTA and INR between autoantibody-positive patients and autoantibody-negative patients, and the levels of INR and IgG are correlated with antibody titer.