Neoexpression of Lewis Y antigen is a sensitive phenotypic change of the damaged intrahepatic bile ducts
✍ Scribed by Motoko Sasaki; Naoko Kono; Yasuni Nakanuma
- Book ID
- 102854056
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1994
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 780 KB
- Volume
- 19
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0270-9139
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✦ Synopsis
W e examined the expression of Lewis antigens, particularly L e w i s Y, on the intrahepatic biliary epithelial cells in normal livers and various hepatobiliary diseases with immunohistochemical and immunoelectron microscopic methods. In normal livers, Lewis Y was consistently and generally negative in the bile ductules and small bile ducts, respectively. This antigen was frequently and strongly expressed on these ducts and ductules showing variable pathological changes such as necroidammation and proliferation in a maority of hepatobiliary diseases independent on their etiology, whereas a majority of normal-appearing bile ducts and ductules in these pathological conditions were negative. Immunoelectron microscopically, gold particles suggesting the presence of Lewis Y were demonstrated on microvilli facing the biliary lumen, lateral cell membranes, secretory granules and Golgi apparatus of abnormal biliary epithelial cells in various hepatobiliary diseases. These data suggest that neoexpression of Lewis Y antigen is a highly sensitive, nonspecific phenotypic change of carbohydrate residues occurring in the abnormal biliary epithelial cells in various hepatobiliary diseases. (HEPATOLOGY 1994;19:138-144.)
Blood group specificities are built up by sequential addition of specific sugars on two types of backbone structures, type 1 and type 2 chains (1-5). Immunohistological distribution patterns of type 1 and type 2 blood grouprelated antigens are characteristic in individual organs or species (1-5). There have been several immunohistochemical studies on blood group specificities containing type 1 chains (Lewis a and b) in the liver (6-81, and our previous study reported that Lewis a and b antigens were diffusely expressed in the intrahepatic bile ducts, including proliferating ductules (9). However, lately, few efforts have been devoted to the identification of specific changes in type 2 chains containing blood group specificities (Lewis X and Y) in the intrahepatic biliary tract (10-13). For example, Kanai et al. (10) described only briefly that nontumorous biliary epi-