Antimitochondrial antibody associated with liver cirrhosis in patients with primary biliary cholangitis

Antimitochondrial antibody (AMA) serves as a serological marker for diagnosing primary biliary cholangitis (PBC). However, the association between AMA and prognosis for PBC patients remains unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between AMA and cirrhosis in PBC patients. This retrospective study enrolled 225 PBC patients, including 127 with liver cirrhosis and 98 without cirrhosis. AMA was tested by indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) with rat kidney as the substrate. AMA-M2 and M2-3E were detected by line immunoassay (LIA). The overall positivity rate for AMA detection in PBC patients was 80.9%. The positivity rates of IIF-AMA, AMA-M2, and M2-3E were significantly higher in patients with liver cirrhosis than in those without cirrhosis (73.2% vs. 52.0%, 74.0% vs. 51.0%, and 80.3% vs. 60.2%, respectively). In multivariate logistic regression, IIF-AMA (OR: 3.05, 95% CI: 1.59–5.87), AMA-M2 (OR: 3.11, 95% CI: 1.61–6.01), and M2-3E (OR: 3.29, 95% CI: 1.63–6.66) remained significantly associated with an increased incidence of liver cirrhosis. Moreover, in multinomial logistic regression, IIF-AMA (compensated cirrhosis, OR: 3.55, 95% CI: 1.49–8.44; decompensated cirrhosis, OR: 2.86, 95% CI: 1.32–6.18), AMA-M2 (compensated cirrhosis, OR: 4.74, 95% CI: 1.94–11.58; decompensated cirrhosis, OR: 2.51, 95% CI: 1.19–5.33), and M2-3E (compensated cirrhosis, OR: 4.92, 95% CI: 1.74–13.96; decompensated cirrhosis, OR: 2.91, 95% CI: 1.28–6.64) were all found to be associated with different stages of liver cirrhosis. AMA was found to be associated with the occurrence of liver cirrhosis in PBC patients. Additionally, AMA was also related to different stages of liver cirrhosis, including compensated and decompensated cirrhosis.