Immunohistochemical characterisation of macrophages in human liver and gastrointestinal tract: expression of CD4, HLA-DR, OKM1, and the mature macrophage marker 25F9 in normal and diseased tissue.

This report describes the immunocytochemical characterisation of macrophages in sections of human liver, gastrointestinal tract, and associated lymphoid tissue and the inflammatory lesions of Crohn's disease. 25F9 is an antigen reported to be induced during the maturation of blood monocytes in vitro. The antigen was concentrated in cytoplasmic vesicular structures of isolated gastrointestinal macrophages. Similar labelled cells were observed in the apical regions of lamina propria in both small and large intestine in vivo. Their numbers and size were greatly increased in specimens of colon from patients with melanosis coli. Mucosal inflammatory lesions in specimens from patients with Crohn's disease did not contain 25F9-positive cells. The antigen was absent from giant cells and epithelioid cells in granulomata but was expressed on histiocytes in submucosal microgranulomata. In lymphoid organs, 25F9-positive cells were found in germinal centres, in the dome region of Peyer's patch, and in the medulla, but were largely excluded from T cell areas. In reactive nodes from Crohn's disease patients, the number of labelled cells in germinal centres and T cell areas was greatly increased. 25F9 was absent from the majority of typical liver Kupffer cells, but was expressed on cytoplasmic granules in a minor subpopulation of larger, more rounded cells in the liver. The results suggest that 25F9 is a marker for endocytosis rather than maturation. In parallel sections, resident macrophages of both liver and gastrointestinal tract labelled with Leu 3a/OKT4 (CD4) and with OKIa (HLA-DR antigen) but did not express OKM1 (type III complement receptor). By contrast, OKM1 was present on inflammatory cells, epithelioid cells, and giant cells in mucosal lesions of Crohn's disease.