Study of lymphocyte reactivity in various stages of chronic liver disease following acute viral hepatitis.

Lymphocyte reactivity was studied in 210 subjects who had suffered from acute viral hepatitis, distributed into three lots according to the time-interval from the acute disease. The laboratory investigations included: study of the lymphocyte nucleolar apparatus (amount of nucleolar RNA, relative and absolute areas of lymphocyte nucleoli) and determination of the proportion of the rosette-forming B-cells. A marked increase of the nucleolar RNA amounts and of the B-cell count was observed in the lot of patients investigated after one to 10 years from the acute hepatitis, while in those who, after longer periods (more than 10 years) had developed a liver cirrhosis the values of these parameters were lower than normal. It is assumed that such changes could predict, already in the early stages, either the favourable course of the disease or its progress to chronicity; the hypersynthesis of lymphocyte nucleolar RNA would suggest the interference of these cells in the immune disorders implicated in the development of chronic liver disease.