In diseased liver specimens, hepatocellular staining was also mem

In diseased liver specimens, hepatocellular staining was also membranous, whereas staining of the intermediate cells of the ductular reactions ranged from cytoplasmic to membranous, depending on the degree of hepatocellular differentiation. We compared staining using all three immunohistochemistry methods, by circulating sequential slides from all three

institutions to each institution. Circulated slides included normal Selleck Kinase Inhibitor Library controls, early stage CHC, and CHB cirrhosis. Neither the institutional staining investigators (R. K., P. H., Y. N. P.) nor the central coordinating pathologist (N. D. T.) noted any differences in staining intensity or pattern of localization, emphasizing the ease and reliability of staining for

this antigen with diverse clones, methods of antigen retrieval, and detection procedures (data not shown). When sequential slides were stained for EpCAM and K19, in all stages of chronic hepatitis, EpCAM(+) hepatocytes were always located in contiguity with K19(+) ductular cells, with the EpCAM(+) cells arrayed around the periphery of ductular reactions (Fig. 1A-D). In 12 cases in which double staining for EpCAM and K19 was accomplished (stages 1-4), all cells of the Everolimus ductular reaction and surrounding hepatocytes with K19 expression were also EpCAM(+) (Fig. 1E,F), and EpCAM(+)/K19(−) cells, particularly hepatocytes, increased with increasing stage of disease (data not shown). Table 3 summarizes the semiquantitative assessment of the extent of EpCAM(+) hepatocyte staining in biopsy specimens according to the stage of chronic hepatitis. Normal livers had no EpCAM hepatocyte staining, or only slight staining (<5%). The extent of EpCAM(+) hepatocytes, overall, increased in parallel with the stage of disease. Only cirrhotic livers had 4+ (>50%) of parenchyma displaying

membranous EpCAM staining. There was no association between hepatocyte EpCAM expression and grade of necroinflammation, nor were there significant differences between livers of comparable stage between those with CHC versus CHB. As expected, p21WAF1/Cip1 and PCNA were expressed in cell nuclei. Labeling indices were calculated for various cell types of normal livers (bile duct lining cells, canal of Hering cells, hepatocytes) and of CHB cirrhotic livers check (bile duct lining cells, hepatobiliary cells of ductular reactions, hepatocytes) (Fig. 2; Supporting Tables 1 and 2), including EpCAM(+) versus EpCAM(−) hepatocytes (Fig. 3). For both antigens, there were statistically significant labeling index differences between CHB cirrhosis and normal controls, concerning all epithelial cell types. In particular, hepatocytes in cirrhosis showed significantly increased p21 expression compared with hepatocytes in normal livers, whereas reactive ductular cells had even more marked difference from the normal canal of Hering cells (Fig. 2A).

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