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Piecemeal necrosis of the liver revisited a review

S W French1, E T Enbom1

  • 1Department of Pathology, Habor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA 90509, United States.

Experimental and Molecular Pathology
|April 8, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Liver cell death is not necrosis but a gradual removal of cytoplasm by T lymphocytes. These T cells digest the cytoplasm, causing liver cells to disappear progressively.

Area of Science:

  • Immunology
  • Hepatology
  • Cell Biology

Background:

  • Piecemeal necrosis is a proposed mechanism for liver cell death.
  • The exact cellular mechanisms driving liver cell loss in certain conditions remain incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To elucidate the precise cellular mechanism underlying piecemeal removal of liver cells.
  • To differentiate between necrosis and active cellular removal in liver injury.

Main Methods:

  • Investigated the interaction between T lymphocytes and liver cells.
  • Analyzed the process of T cell-mediated cytoplasm removal.
  • Examined the role of the immunologic synapse in this interaction.

Main Results:

  • Piecemeal removal involves T lymphocytes actively removing liver cell cytoplasm, not causing necrosis.
  • T lymphocytes form an immunologic synapse with liver cells, recognizing surface antigens.
  • Engulfed cytoplasm is digested intracellularly by T lymphocyte lysosomes.

Conclusions:

  • Liver cell disappearance in piecemeal degeneration is an active T cell-mediated process.
  • This mechanism involves the progressive digestion of liver cell cytoplasm by T lymphocytes.
  • The process differs fundamentally from classical hepatocellular necrosis.

Keywords:
AutoimmunityImmunologic synapseNecrosis

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