Patterns of hepatitis B surface antigen. Localization in cells of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was identified with immunofluorescence, immunoperoxidase, and aldehyde fuchsin stains within tumor cells in three cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from a series of liver biopsies from 172 consecutive cases of HCC. Two patterns of distribution and staining of HBsAg in cells of HCC were observed. In two of the three biopsy specimens, HBsAg was confined to solitary or small groups of tumor cells where a heavily stained inclusion occupied the entire cytoplasm displacing the nucleus. These inclusions corresponded to ground-glass cytoplasm with hematoxylin-eosin. The pattern is different in the other specimen where all the HCC cells in one area of the tumor showed a diffuse peripheral or perinuclear staining of the cytoplasm. In hematoxylin-eosin sections, these tumor cells showed partial transformation of the cytoplasm into the ground-glass appearance.