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Hepatocellular expression of lymphocyte function—associated antigen 3 in chronic hepatitis
Author(s) -
Autschbach Frank,
Meuer Stefan C.,
Moebius Ulrich,
Manns Michael,
Hess Georg,
Zum Büschenfelde KarlHermann Meyer,
Thoenes Wolfgang,
Dienes HansPeter
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.1840140204
Subject(s) - immunology , lymphocyte , antigen , medicine , chronic hepatitis , function (biology) , hepatitis , lymphocyte activation , hepatitis b antigens , biology , t cell , immune system , microbiology and biotechnology , hepatitis b virus , virus
T lymphocyte—mediated cytolytic immune reactions are considered a major cause of hepatocyte injury in chronic viral and autoimmune hepatitis. To further investigate local immune responses, we studied the expression of lymphocyte antigens and cell‐cell interaction molecules known to be involved in effector‐target cell interactions by light and electron microscopy in liver biopsy specimens from patients with chronic viral and autoimmune hepatitis. CD8 + lymphocytes were found to be the predominant population of cells in the inflammatory infiltrate in chronic hepatitis B and non‐A, non‐B hepatitis. In contrast, CD4 + cells constituted a comparably higher proportion of cells and were more numerous than CD8 + cells in chronic autoimmune hepatitis. In both viral and autoimmune hepatitis, a substantial portion of lymphocytes expressed activation antigens such as T11/3 (CD2R) and IL‐2‐R (CD25). Lymphocyte function—associated antigen‐3 (CD58), which mediates lymphocyte adhesion and activation and is the natural ligand of the CD2/T11 lymphocyte surface receptor, could be demonstrated on endothelial cells and hepatocytes. Hepatocellular lymphocyte function—associated antigen‐3 expression in chronic hepatitis showed membranous and cytoplasmic staining of hepatocytes and had a positive correlation with the degree of inflammatory activity. These results suggest that effector‐target interactions between hepatocytes and lymphocytes mediated by the lymphocyte function—associated antigen‐3/CD2 pathway play a role in chronic inflammatory liver disease. Possible functional consequences of this interaction include enhancement of antigen‐specific immune reactions and antigen‐independent mechanisms of T cell activation, which may contribute considerably to the degree of inflammatory activity and tissue damage in chronic hepatitis. (HEPATOLOGY 1991;14:223–230.)