Studies on the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory liver diseases. I. Membrane-fixed IgG on isolated hepatocytes from patients.

Membrane-fixed IgG on isolated hepatocytes from biopsy material could be demonstrated by direct immunofluorescence in nine of thirty-four patients with acute virus-B hepatitis and in seventeen of forty-nine cases with chronic active hepatitis (CAH). Patients with acute virus-A hepatitis, chronic persistent hepatitis (CPH) or metabolic liver diseases did not show this phenomenon. Cases with CAH and IgG on the hepatocytes-HBsAg-positive as well as HBsAg-negative-had high inflammatory activity. Antibodies against HBsAg were not present in any serum. Autoimmune phenomena (antibodies against smooth muscle, mitochondria and nuclei) were only rarely demonstrable. The findings suggest that an antibody- or immune complex-mediated lymphocyte cytotoxicity may be involved in the pathogenesis of chronic liver diseases.