Hepatocyte damage induced by lymphocytes from patients with chronic liver diseases, as detected by LDH release

Abstract

We have used a cytoplasmic enzyme system in the study of the in vitro cytotoxic activity of human peripheral blood leucocytes against isolated liver cells in patients with chronic liver diseases. Lymphocytes from primary biliary cirrhosis and chronic active liver disease patients were shown to have an in vitro capacity to induce a cytolitic effect on isolated hepatocytes, as demonstrated by the enhanced release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), a cytoplasmic marker enzyme. No significant LDH release was seen with control lymphocytes of normal persons or with lymphocytes from patients with alcoholic cirrhosis. Our results corroborate, in a different assay system, by a simple, reproducible and different method, that lymphocyte-mediated liver cell damage "in vitro" occurs in both primary biliary cirrhosis and chronic active liver disease.