Lupoid Hepatitis: Computer Analysis Defining “Hepatitis” and “Cirrhosis” Phases and Relationships Between Hepatocellular Damage and Immune Reactions in the Liver

Summary The interrelationships between histopathological, clinical, biochemical, and serological indices in 30 patients with lupoid hepatitis were analysed by a digital computer which was used to calculate 225 correlation coefficients. First, the study defined two groups of significantly interrelated histological indices corresponding to “hepatitis” and “cirrhosis” phases of the disease. The hepatitis phase comprised liver cell necrosis, Kupffer cell hyperplasia and plasma cell accumulation, and the cirrhosis phase comprised loss of architecture, fibrosis, bile duct proliferation, and lymphocyte and plasma cell accumulation. Secondly, the study defined significant interrelationships in the hepatitis phase between hepatocellular damage and an immune reaction as shown by plasma cell accumulation in the liver, gamma globulin increase in the serum and lupus erythematosus (LE) cell positivity. The immune reaction is, in part at least, to antigens of damaged liver cells; it may be entirely a consequence of damage from a primary process, such as a virus infection, or it may be an autoimmune cause of continuing cell injury. The analysis did not discriminate between these two possibilities.