Clinicopathological study of lymphocyte attachment to endothelial cells (endothelialitis) in various liver diseases

An attachment of lymphocytes to the vascular wall, a feature called "endothelialitis" (ETL) or "endotheliitis", was investigated in various liver biopsies, including acute hepatitis (AH), hepatic infectious mononucleosis (IM), drug-induced hepatitis, alcoholic hepatitis and fibrosis, chronic persistent hepatitis (CPH), chronic active hepatitis (CAH), liver cirrhosis (LC), primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), nonspecific reactive hepatitis (NSRH), and cases with a variety of diseases having almost normal liver histology as control material. Although ETL has been considered to be nearly pathognomic of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and acute transplant rejection, ETL was found in both portal and central veins with a variable incidence, not only in all categories of liver diseases, but also in the control group. The incidence of central vein ETL was significantly higher in AH, CAH, PBC, IM, alcoholic fibrosis, and NSRH than that of the control group, and that of portal vein ETL was significantly higher in AH, CPH, CAH, LC, PBC, IM, and alcoholic fibrosis. Even under the light microscope, lymphocytes attached to the endothelial cells had irregular cytoplasmic processes making contact with endothelial cells. Also lymphocytes located beneath the endothelial lining were frequently found. When ETL-positive and -negative cases in the same category were compared, the levels of serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) were usually higher in the ETL-positive group, and statistically significant differences were observed in CPH, CAH, LC, PBC and NSRH. In chronic hepatitis, the occurrence of portal vein ETL paralleled the histologic activity of portal inflammation, whereas central vein endothelialitis was associated with active parenchymal inflammation such as sinusoidal lymphocyte infiltration and spotty hepatocyte necrosis, indicating that ETL may be a phenomenon more frequently associated with active hepatic inflammation. Immunohistochemical observations revealed that about 70% of lymphocytes attached to the endothelial cells were T cells, while about 10% were B cells. These data indicate that ETL in the liver is not specifically pathognomonic for GVHD and rejection of liver transplants, and is universally found in a variety of liver diseases with a varying incidence and activity, related to the activity of hepatic inflammation, portal vein ETL occurring in relation to active portal inflammation and central vein ETL to parenchymal inflammation. Thus ETL is considered to be an intimate T lymphocyte-endothelial cell interaction universally associated with active hepatic inflammation; it may be an important phenomenon leading to accumulation of cellular exudates and their reaction at the site of antigen in the tissue.