LIGHT MICROSCOPIC LOCALIZATION OF HEPATITIS-B VIRUS-ANTIGENS IN THE HUMAN-PANCREAS - POSSIBILITY OF MULTIPLICATION OF HEPATITIS-B VIRUS IN THE HUMAN-PANCREAS

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus has been considered to be strictly organotropic and, supposedly, only the hepatocytes of humans and chimpanzees can be infected by and support multiplication of this virus. The localization of hepatitis B surface antigen in extrahepatic tissues has been regarded as due to deposition or phagocytosis of hepatitis B surface antigen circulating in the blood. In this study, hepatitis B virus antigens were demonstrated in the pancreases of autopsied subjects with hepatitis B surface antigenemia by Shikata''s orcein stain and immunoperoxidase and immunofluorescent studies; hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis B core antigen were localized within the cytoplasm of pancreatic acinar cells in 18 and 6 cases, respectively, of 30 cases studied. In 25 autopsy cases with no hepatitis B surface antigenemia, staining failed to demonstrate hepatitis B surface antigen or hepatitis B core antigen in the pancreas or liver. Thus, hepatitis B virus may infect and replicate in human pancreatic acinar cells; however, no convincing hepatitis B virus-associated ultrastructures were detected in the present study. Although there were some cases demonstrating chronic inflammatory reaction and/or fatty necrosis in the pancreas with hepatitis B virus antigens, the causal relationship between these pathologic changes and hepatitis B virus infection awaits further clarification.