Identification of T lymphocytes and subsets in liver biopsy cores of acute viral hepatitis

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Abstract
The lymphocytic infiltrates were examined in 10 liver biopsy cores taken from 9 cases of acute viral hepatitis (AVH), using cryostat sections. The cells were identified and characterized, using the monoclonal antibodies to T lymphocytes (OKT3), T helper cells (OKT4) and T suppressor/cytotoxic cells (OKT8) in an indirect immunofluorescence technique. Of the 9 cases of AVH, 3 were type B, 1 was acute type A, with underlying chronic hepatitis type B, and the remaining 5 were non-A, non-B, with no serological markers. One of the patients with acute non-A, non-B hepatitis was biopsied twice with a 2-mo. interval due to clinical relapse. Both these biopsies were included in the study. The cellular infiltrates, both lobular and portal, were graded from 1+ to 4+ and evaluated by examining the histological sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin. The approximate percentage of each set of cells staining with different antibodies was estimated in each case. The predominant cells were found to be T lymphocytes in all 9 cases of AVH; of the 2 subsets, T suppressor/cytotoxic cells formed the majority in all except 1 patient who had AVH type A superimposed on chronic B hepatitis.

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