Objective      To characterize the autoantibody profiles in the patients with hepatitis B and those with autoimmune hepatitis.       Methods      The subjected patients who admitted in our institute from January 2014 to May 2015 were divided into 3 groups: hepatitis B virus group (HBV

n=306)

autoimmune hepatitis group (AIH

n=235)

and healthy control (n=150). Indirect immunofluorescence and EUROLINE assays were performed to detect a panel of autoantibodies

including anti-nuclear antibody (ANA)

anti-small muscle antibody (ASMA)

anti-mitochondrial antibody (AMA

) anti-liver kidney microsome type 1 (LKM-1)

and anti-soluble liver antigen/liver pancreas (SLA/LP) in the sera.       Results      (1) The prevalence of ANA in HBV and AIH were 9.1% and 80.42%

which was obviously higher than that in control. Moreover

the significant higher prevalence of ANA was seen in AIH than HBV (P0.05). (2) The positive rate of ANA with titers of 1∶100

1∶320

and 1∶1 000 in HBV were 6.2%

2.6%

and 0.3%

respectively

indicating that positive rate of ANA was very low in HBV and mainly detectable in low (1∶100) titer. In contrast

ANA positivity in AIH with titers of 1∶100

1∶320

and 1∶1 000 were 22.98%

41.28%

and 14.47%

respectively. The positive ANA with titer 1∶320 in AIH was strikingly higher than in HBV. (3) Positive rates of AMA

ASMA

anti-LKM-1 and anti-SLA/LP antibodies in HBV (0.3%

0.9%

0.3%

and 0%) were much lower than those in AIH (36.6%

25.1%

23%

and 2.55%). (4) The fluorescent staining displayed a majority of homogeneous and nucleolar type of ANA in AIH

whereas granular type was dominated in HBV. (5) Among 28 chronic HBV patients with positive autoantibodies

only one patient met the comprehensive criteria of International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group (IAIHG) in 1999 with an IAIHG score ≥16.       Conclusion      Our data indicate that patients with HBV and AIH are both positive to autoantibodies

thus a low titer of autoantibody positivity can not serve as diagnostic criterion for AIH. Positive high titer of autoantibodies combined with clinical manifestation is useful for differential diagnosis between these 2 diseases.