Studies on an inhibitory factor to phytohemagglutinin-induced lymphocyte transformation found in the serum of patients with various liver diseases.

When normal lymphocytes were stimulated with PHA in the presence of serum taken from patients with various liver diseases, lower lymphocyte transformation was seen in many cases. The occurrence of a serum inhibitory factor in liver diseases tends to increase with the progress of the disease from acute hepatitis to cirrhosis of the liver. No such inhibitory factor was detected in two asymptomatic HBs-antigen carriers. When the inhibitory factor was fractionated by DE-52 column chromatography, an active component was obtained and shown to have mobilities from alpha2-globulin to beta-globulin in cellulose acetate membrane electrophoresis. However, two active fractions were separated by DEAE-cellulose column chromatography with stepwise increases of the concentration of the acetate buffer and their mobilities were consistent with those of alpha1-globulin and alpha2-globulin, respectively. In 11 cases of acute hepatitis which were followed for at least 6 months, three out of four inhibitory factor positive cases developed into the chronic form and the other became a protracted case. On the other hand, six out of seven inhibitory factor negative cases completely recovered and the remaining case followed a protracted course.