Detection of liver IgG Fc receptors using soluble immune complexes of peroxidase-antiperoxidase. I. Detection in liver tissue from patients with liver diseases.

The presence of liver IgG Fc receptor sites was demonstrated in the liver tissue from 23 patients with liver diseases and 2 patients without liver lesions by the localization of soluble immune complexes of peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP). Cryostat sections of liver tissues were incubated with the complexes and the peroxidase activity was revealed histochemically. In the normal liver tissue, PAP were localized on the liver cell membrane, the Kupffer cells, and some of the sinusoidal walls. In acute hepatitis, a strongly positive reaction on swollen Kupffer cells was remarkable but positive reaction on the liver cell membrane was very weak. In chronic aggressive hepatitis, PAP were strongly positive on multiplied Kupffer cells and many PAP-positive infiltrated cells were observed at the area of piecemeal necrosis. However, the positive reaction on the liver cell membrane in patients with chronic aggressive hepatitis was generally fainter than in the normal cases without liver diseases. These results correlated well with the severity of liver cell necrosis. In chronic persistent hepatitis, the number of PAP-positive infiltrated cells in the portal area and positive Kupffer cells were fewer than in chronic aggressive hepatitis. Similar results were obtained with liver cirrhosis, and in particular, the liver cell membrane with regenerative nodules gave a positive reaction. A negative result was obtained by incubation with PAP-F(ab')2 alone. PAP reaction was significantly inhibited by pretreatment with aggregated human IgG, trypsin, and pronase but not with neuraminidase.