AFP‐PRODUCING CELLS IN HEPATITIS AND IN LIVER CIRRHOSIS

Examination of biopsy specimens from 16 patients with acute hepatitis and 30 with liver cirrhosis and of autopsy specimens of cirrhotic livers from 12 patients with primary hepatoma to detect cells containing alpha fetoprotein (AFP) was carried out by immunofluorescence. AFP was observed in the cytoplasm of proliferating cells having the appearance of oval cells and transitional cells in hepatitis and cirrhosis cases suggesting that differentiation from oval cells to mature hepatocytes is one of the regeneration mechanisms of hepatocytes in these diseases and that the transient appearance of AFP reflects the regeneration process. Supporting evidence is that AFP-containing cells were proliferating in the regenerating area of the liver in a subacute hepatic necrosis case who had a very high serum AFP level. There is a similar relation between AFP production and fetal gestation.