Lymphocyte transformation test with liver-specific protein and phytohaemagglutinin in patients with liver disease.

Lymphocytes from thirty-four untreated patients with various liver diseases were stimulated in a lymphocyte transformation test with liver-specific protein (LSP). Eight of ten patients with chronic active or persistent hepatitis, two of five patients with non-alcoholic cirrhosis and six of nineteen patients with acute hepatitis showed a positive in vitro reactivity to LSP. In a control group of twelve persons without evidence of liver disease, eleven gave a negative response to LSP stimulation, whereas one person showed a positive response. Among fourteen patients with chronic hepatitis or non-alcoholic cirrhosis treated with prednisone at the time of the investigation, only one showed reactivity to LSP stimulation. Three patients in this group had previously had a positive reaction before prednisone was given. There was no statistically significant correlation between the reactivity to LSP stimulation and the presence or absence of hepatitis-associated antigen (HBAg) in serum, or with the biochemical liver parameters. The response to in vitro stimulation with phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) was found to be significantly lower as compared with the control group in eleven patients with alcoholic liver disease and in the patients with acute hepatitis who had HBAg in serum. This decrease in reactivity could apparently not be ascribed to immuno-suppressive factors in the patients' sera.