title: Cytoplasmic hepatitis B surface antigen and the ground-glass appearance in hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was identified with aldehyde fuchsin and immunoperoxidase stain and by immunofluorescence in malignant hepatocytes with a ground-glass appearance in only one needle biopsy specimen of a series of biopsies from 130 consecutive cases of hepatocellular carcinoma. The patient was 14 years old. HBsAg was identified by aldehyde fuchsin stain in nonmalignant hepatocytes of 48 (58%) of 83 biopsy specimens that contained nonmalignant liver tissue. The antigen was demonstrable in significantly greater proportions of cases in younger age groups. A similar but not identical age relationship has been found for hepatitis B antigenemia in Hong Kong. It appears that the ability to produce HBsAg declines with age. The usual absence of demonstrable HBsAg in cells of hepatocellular carcinoma may be due to a failure of this characteristic to survive into the malignant cell line, and so does not invalidate the possibility that the hepatitis B virus (HBV) plays a direct role in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma. In exceptional circumstances, as when hepatocellular carcinoma appears at an unusually early age, this marker is identifiable in cells of the tumor.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000276:immunology*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens