title: Aberrant cytokeratin expression and high susceptibility to apoptosis in autoimmune hepatitis.
abstract: Immunopathological differences between autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and chronic hepatitis C (CH-C) have not been well investigated. Therefore, we immunohistochemically examined the expression of various cytokeratins (CKs) not only in liver tissues of AIH but also in those of CH-C at the active stage. Furthermore, to evaluate the immune surveillance system and the susceptibility to apoptosis, immunohistochemical staining of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DRalpha, cathepsin D, B cell leukemia-2 (bcl-2), bcl-2-associated X protein (bax) and caspase 3 was also performed. Heterogeneous expression of CK 8 and CK 18 was observed in hepatocytes of AIH, while homogeneous expression was observed in hepatocytes of CH-C. Aberrant expression of CK 7 and CK 19 was observed in hepatocytes of AIH, while it was not in hepatocytes of CH-C. Expression of HLA-DRalpha was observed in hepatocytes of AIH but not in those of CH-C. Furthermore, expression of cathepsin D, bax and caspase 3 was much stronger in hepatocytes of AIH than in those of CH-C. These results indicate that cytoskeletal alterations of hepatocytes in AIH may increase the susceptibility to apoptosis and induce hepatocyte destruction.
authors.affiliation: Third Department of Internal Medicine, Kagawa Medical University, 1750-1 Ikenobe, Miki-cho, Kagawa 761-0793, Kita-gun, Japan
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murota
authors.forename: Seishiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Jiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohtsuki
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kita
authors.forename: Fumi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Funakoshi
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masaki
authors.forename: Kazutaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kurokohchi
authors.forename: Naohito
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuriyama