The nature of hepatic lymphocytic infiltrates in the tropical splenomegaly syndrome.

The lymphocytes infiltrating the liver of patients with tropical splenomegaly syndrome (TSS) were shown to be mainly T lymphocytes. Migration of leucocytes obtained from patients with TSS was inhibited by TSS liver extract, normal liver extract and liver-specific lipoprotein. These findings suggest that the hepatic infiltrates which occur in TSS are probably caused by a cell-mediated immune response to an antigen present in liver cells.