Abstract
Plasma immune complexes (IC), especially IC fixing either C 3b or iC 3b/C 3dg to form C 3b-IC or iC 3b/C 3dg-IC, and the level of C 3b receptor (complement receptor 1, CR 1), factor H and factor I, were studied in patients with liver cirrhosis (IC), chornic hepatitis (CH) and normal subjects (NS). Elevation of C 3b-IC were observed in patients with LC compared with CH oh NS, while no differences of iC 3b/C 3dg-IC were found among patients with LC, CH and NS. The expressione of CR 1 on erythrocytes patients with LC was increased compared to CH or NS. The values of factor I were very low while factor H were very high in patients with LC compared to CH or NS. These results suggested the presence of hyperproduction of C 3b-IC as well as abnormalities in the C 3 cascade for the clearance of IC in patients with LC, probably be due to impaired-production of factor I neccessary to cleave C 3b to C 3dg. The increase of CR 1 on the erythrocytes and the increase of plasma factor H in patients with LC might be an effort to compensate the diminution of the cleavage of C 3b to C 3dg.
