1977 Volume 18 Issue 12 Pages 936-942
To test whether ethanol could be immunologicaly responsible for the development of chronic liver disease, cell-mediated immune responses to ethanol and HBsAg were compared in patients with chronic liver diseases. The subjects were composed of 36 cases with chronic liver diseases without a history of drinking (group A), 19 cases with chronic liver diseases with a history of drinking (group B), 8 patients with normal livers with a history of drinking (group C), and 6 patients with normal livers and without a history of drinking (group D). The leucocyte migration test was carried out according to the method of Söbørg's. When ethanol was added to the medium, an inhibition of leucocyte migration was found in 16 cases in group A (44%) and 11 cases in Group B (58%). No positive reaction to ethanol was ob served in Group C and D. In chronic liver diseases, lymphocyte reactivity to ethanol tended to be higher in cases of HBsAg positive chronic active hepatitis with lobular disorganization. In HBsAg positive chronic liver disease, lymphocyte reactivity to HBsAg was higher than that found in HBsAg negative chronic liver diseases.
These observations indicate that there is altered immune response to ethanol and HBsAg in some forms of chronic liver diseases.
