Determination of mitochondrial autoantibodies (AMA M2) in blood serum by indirect immunofluorescence

Mitochondrial autoantibodies (AMA M2) are autoantibodies, that is, a component of the immune system that, for undetermined reasons, shows aggression to the body's own structures.

Mitochondria are "micro-organs" (organelles) that are found in almost every cell. These organelles provide vital activity of the whole organism by direct participation in energy processes, processing nutrients coming to them through the cell membrane from the vascular channel and converting them into specialized energy substrates ADP (adenosine triphosphoric acid). When mitochondria are damaged, the process of ADP formation is disrupted, which means that the cell is completely deprived of the ability to generate energy necessary for its vital activity, which ultimately leads to its inevitable death.

In 90-95% of all cases of the appearance of antimitochondrial antibodies in the blood, patients have a disease associated with this pathology, which is biliary cirrhosis of the liver, and these antibodies are most often detected long before the appearance of clinical signs of biliary cirrhosis. That, undoubtedly, has a huge prognostic and clinical value, because if the treatment of such a formidable disease as biliary cirrhosis to begin before the development of the clinical picture, which is most often manifested in the first couple of itchy skin and rapid, frequent fatigue, and then already jaundice, the prognosis for recovery increases tenfold.

In addition to the diagnosis of biliary cirrhosis, the detection of antimitochondrial antibodies may also indicate the development of diseases such as primary and secondary sclerosing cholangitis, liver disease due to various chronic inflammatory processes in other parts of the GI tract, with obstruction of bile ducts.