A cytokeratin immunohistochemical study of cholestatic liver disease: Evidence that hepatocytes can express “bile duct‐type” cytokeratins

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A cytokeratin immunohistochemical study was performed on 38 liver biopsies from cases of primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, extrahepatic biliary obstruction or drug‐induced liver disease in order to analyse the cytoskeletal changes in detail. On paraffin sections of 27 cases, a variable number of hepatocytes were reactive with a polyclonal anti‐cytokeratin antiserum that, in the normal liver, stains bile duct cells only. On cryostat sections of 23 cases, a variable number of hepatocytes were immunoreactive with a monoclonal antibody specifically directed against cytokeratin no. 7 and were most numerous in cases of long‐standing cholestasis irrespective of the aetiology. In three cases of primary sclerosing cholangitis and two cases of primary biliary cirrhosis a few hepatocytes were also weakly positive with a monoclonal antibody specific for cytokeratin no. 19. Since cytokeratins no. 7 and no. 19 are, in the normal liver, restricted to bile duct cells, these results further support the concept of “ductular metaplasia” of hepatocytes, the mechanism of which remains unclear.