Immunocytochemical Reaction of Serum of Patients with Hepatic Diseases With Hepatic Structures.

Binding of sera of 32 patients with various liver diseases, 10 patients with lupus erythematosus and 30 hospital controls to human and animal livers and other organs was studied using the indirect Coons' fluorescent antibody technic. Two types of circulating reacting substances were demonstrated: one noted in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis and malignant hepatitis bound nuclei without species or organ specificity; the other occurring in a variety of hepatic diseases reacted with the cytoplasm of ductule cells. The former was influenced by steroid therapy while the latter was not. The antigenic material in the ductular cell possibly is a muco- or lipoprotein which may also be present in bile.