Cellular immune function and liver damage in post-hepatitic cirrhosis.

AIM: To study cellular immune function in patients with post-hepatitic cirrhosis (PHC) and its relationship with different types of liver damage.

METHODS: Fifty-one patients with PHC, including 20 cases of Child-Pugh class A, 18 of class B, 13 of class C and 22 normal subjects as controls were studied. After peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated by Ficoll-Hypaque gradient centrifugation, lymphocyte transformation (LT) test, IL-2 activity and NK cell activity were measured by the (3)H-TdR incorporation technique.

RESULTS: Changes of LT stimulation index (SI), IL-2 activity (SI) and NK cell activity (%) in patients with PHC were significantly decreased compared with in the healthy controls (18.1 ± 13.0 vs 34.9 ± 21.7, P < 0.01; 8.1 ± 6.0 vs 13.6 ± 5.8, P < 0.01; 40.3 ± 21.7 vs 61.3 ± 20.5, P < 0.01; respectively). The defects of cellular immune function were closely related to Child-Pugh classification. The values in class C were much lower than those in B and A (P < 0.01) and those in B were lower than those in A (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Defective cellular immune functions in patients with PHC are connected with the degree of liver damage.