Study questions role of autoantibodies in anesthesia-related liver injury.(Brief Article)

2002 APR 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Though pediatric anesthesiologists, particularly those who are female, harbor higher levels of two important autoantibodies than general anesthesiologists, medical researchers do not believe the autoantibodies are linked to the formation of volatile anesthetic-induced hepatitis.

Purportedly, anesthetic-induced hepatitis is caused when portions of the immune response system go awry in response to exposure to inhaled anesthetics, some have argued. However, a joint investigation carried out by Johns Hopkins Medical School and U.S. National Institutes of Health investigators has produced evidence challenging that premise.

Dolores B. Njoku, of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care and Medicine at Johns Hopkins, explained that the group analyzed the sera of 105 pediatric anesthesiologists, 53 general anesthesiologists, 20 halothane hepatitis patients, and 20 control, nonanesthesia-exposed individuals for two key autoantibodies, P450 2E1 and Erp58, before coming to their conclusion.

"Pediatric anesthesiologists, like halothane hepatitis patients, had higher serum autoantibody levels of ERp58 and P450 2E1 than general anesthesiologists and controls, which was possibly because of their increased occupational exposures to anesthetics," they said.

Interestingly, female pediatric anesthesiologists had the highest levels of P450 2E1 autoantibody than any other members of their occupation, while female general anesthesiologists had higher levels of ERp58 autoantibody than their male counterparts. Nevertheless, only one female pediatric anesthesiologist showed ...