IMMUNOLOGICAL STUDIES ON CHRONIC ACTIVE HEPATITIS - POSSIBLE INVOLVEMENT OF MACROPHAGE-MEDIATED CYTO-TOXICITY IN ITS IMMUNOPATHOGENESIS

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 28  (5) , 250-253
Abstract
The possible involvement of cell-mediated immune responses to liver-specific protein in the pathogenesis of liver injury was investigated. The subjects consisted of 7 patients with acute hepatitis, 12 cases with chronic active hepatitis, 4 cases with chronic active hepatitis, 4 cases with chronic inactive hepatitis and 3 cases with liver cirrhosis. When peripheral blood lymphocytes from these patients were cultured in the presence of liver specific protein and lymphocyte transformation was determined by measuring the uptake of [3H]thymidine into acid-insoluble materials, positive blastogenesis was seen in 2 cases with acute hepatitis and 6 cases with chronic active hepatitis. The macrophage activating factor (MAF), a kind of lymphokine, was also detectable in the culture medium of activated lymphocytes from 6 patients who showed positive blastogenesis by estimating [3H]glucosamine incorporation into macrophages. The MAF-activated macrophages were shown to be cytotoxic for the isolated liver cells causing marked inhibition of albumin synthesis. This macrophage-mediated cytotoxicity was detected in 8 cases that showed positive lymphocyte transformation. Macrophage-mediated cytotoxicity may play a role in the pathogenesis of chronic active hepatitis.