Expression of ABH blood group antigens, receptors of Ulex europaeus agglutinin I, and factor VIII-related antigen on sinusoidal endothelial cells in adenomatous hyperplasia in human cirrhotic livers.

Adenomatous hyperplasia, a hyperplastic parenchymal nodule in the cirrhotic liver, has been presumed to be a preneoplastic lesion in human hepatocarcinogenesis. In this study, phenotypes of the sinusoidal endothelium were examined in adenomatous hyperplasia, hepatocellular carcinoma, cirrhosis, chronic active hepatitis, and normal livers. Adenomatous hyperplasia (n = 74) was histologically classified into two types: ordinary (n = 35) and atypical (n = 39). While the former lacked hepatocellular atypia, the latter consisted of atypical hepatocytes equivocal as to benignity and malignancy, in some of which overt malignant foci were found. The expression of A, B, and H blood group antigens, receptors of Ulex europaeus agglutinin I, and factor VIII-related antigen on the sinusoidal endothelium was minimal or nil in normal livers. It was mild and focal in chronic active hepatitis, cirrhosis, and ordinary adenomatous hyperplasia, while expression was moderate in atypical adenomatous hyperplasia with or without malignant foci, and severe in malignant foci in atypical adenomatous hyperplasia and in hepatocellular carcinoma. These data suggest that phenotypes of the sinusoidal endothelium of atypical adenomatous hyperplasia are closely related to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma, and phenotypic changes of the sinusoidal endothelium occur stepwise corresponding to various stages of hepatocarcinogenesis in cirrhotic livers.