SLA-AbELISAisasolidphaseenzymeimmunoassayemployinghumanrecombinantSLA/LPforthequantitativeandqualitativedetectionofantibodiesagainstsolubleliverantigen(SLA)inhumanserum.Theassayisatoolforthediagnosisofautoimmunehepatitis(AIH).Autoimmunehepatitis(AIH)isachronicprogressiveliverdiseaseofunknownoriginthatrespondswelltoimmunosuppressivetherapy,buthasapoorprognosisifuntreated.Earlyandaccuratediagnosisisthereforeofgreatimportance.AIHischaracterizedbyhistologicalfeaturesofperiportalhepatitisintheabsenseofviralMarkers,byhypergammaglobulinemiaand,inthemajorityofpatients,bythepresencesmooth-muscleautoantibodies(SMA)orliver-kidneymicrosomalautoantibodies(LKM).Theseantiofpatientswithviralhepatitisandotherimmune-mediateddiseases.Incontrast,antibodiestosolubleautoimmunehepatitisandarepresentin20%ofallAIH-patients,manyofwhomarenegativeforotherautoantibodies.Itwasshownthatanti-SLAandanti-LParedirectedagainstthesameantigenandthusareidentical.TheSLA/LPantigenclonedandsequencedin2000isaproteinofunknownfunction,suggestedtobeanUGA-suppressortRNA-associatedprotein.ANA/SMAandanti-SLApositivepatientssharemostclinical,biochemical,histologicalandprognosticfeatures.Distinctionofdifferentsubgroupsaccordingtoautoantibodystatusisthereforeclinicallynothelpful.However,testingforanti-SLAautoantibodiesisveryimportantforthediagnosisofAIHinmanypatientswhoarenegativeforotherautoantibodiesandmayotherwisebemisdiagnosed.