title: Distribution of B lymphocytes in nonsuppurative cholangitis in primary biliary cirrhosis.
abstract: Primary biliary cirrhosis is characterized by the immune-mediated, nonsuppurative destruction of intrahepatic small bile ducts, with significant T-cell involvement. To date, B cells in livers of primary biliary cirrhosis patients have been ignored in immunopathological evaluations of nonsuppurative cholangitis. This study aimed to correlate the distribution of activated T and B cells with the histopathology of nonsuppurative cholangitis in primary biliary cirrhosis, with emphasis on B cell infiltration. The distribution of activated T and B cells and the histopathology in primary biliary cirrhosis were heterogeneous in bile ducts showing nonsuppurative cholangitis; they were also heterogeneous in various parts of a given bile duct. Although activated T cells were significantly involved in the occurrence of nonsuppurative cholangitis, B cell-predominant reaction or cholangitis and B-cell infiltration into the biliary epithelial layer were also prominent in some nonsuppurative cholangitis. Many bile ducts with nonsuppurative cholangitis of various histological types showed intermixed activated T- and B-cell infiltration. These findings indicate that immune mechanism(s) involving B cells and, probably, humoral immunity are at work in the occurrence of nonsuppurative cholangitis and the destruction of bile ducts in primary biliary cirrhosis. Cell-to-cell interactions of activated T and B cells should therefore be evaluated in livers of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Pathology, Kanazawa University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakanuma
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D001653:Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D002761:Cholangitis / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000032:analysis; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000032:analysis; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008105:Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M