HEPATITIS C VIRUS AND ESSENTIAL MIXED CRYOGLOBULINAEMIA

Clinical and laboratory evidence of liver involvement are frequentlyfound in essential mixed cryoglobulinaemia (EMC). We lookedfor evidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in 37 patientswith EMC. Anti-HCV antibodies (Ab) were found in 16/37 (43%)patients with EMC using the ELISA 2 test and the RIBA 2 test.The 16 anti-HCV-Ab positive patients (group 1) were comparedto the 21 anti-HCV-Ab negative patients (group 2). Group 1 patientshad more frequent cutaneous involvement (P = 0.02), clinical,biological and histologic hepatic involvement (P<0.01), higherserum cryoglobulin and lower CH50 levels (P<0.001). Serumhepatitis B virus markers were infrequent in both groups andno patient from either group had detectable serum HBV DNA. Thesepreliminary results suggest that HCV may be another cause ofmixed cryoglobulinaemia. KEY WORDS: Hepatitis C virus, Cryoglobulinaemia     

No evidence for a spirochaetal origin of localized scleroderma

We looked for evidence of a Borrelia infection in 15 patients with morphoea. We were not able to detect antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in any of these 15 patients. None of the 14 skin biopsies examined by immunohistochemistry showed evidence of spirochaetes. Skin biopsies were cultured in 10 patients. All were negative. These results do not support a spirochaetal origin of localized scleroderma.     

Conjunctival biopsy in Sjögren''s syndrome: correlations between histological and immunohistochemical features

A primary tumour of the right atrium with morphological, ultrastructural and immunohistochemical features of a synovial sarcoma is described. This appeared to have arisen from a benign so-called mesothelioma of the atrio-ventricular node and had metastasized to the lungs. The histogenesis and relationship of these two tumours are discussed.