[Serum immunoglobulin levels and histomorphological changes in the liver in chronic liver diseases]

The level of serum immunoglobulins were juxtaposed, in the paper, to the histomorphological liver changes of 121 patients with chronic liver diseases. Immunoglobulins were also studied in 33 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis as well as in 66 healthy control subjects. Myelogram was performed to 40 patients. The authors' own actualized histomorphological classification of the chronic liver diseases was used. The patients with chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis have an elevated serum level of immunoglobulins G, A and M, proportional to the degree of the histomorphological liver changes. Most manifested was the increase of IgA in alcoholic cirrhosis, and steatosis, alone or in combination with inflammatory process, induces no substantial changes in serum immunoglobins. Increased number plasmatic cells was established in the bone marrow of the patients with chronic liver diseases, with cirrhosis in particular, suggesting an extrahepatal participation in immunoglobulin biosynthesis.