Local distribution analysis of cytotoxic molecules in liver allograft is helpful for the diagnosis of acute cellular rejection after orthotopic liver transplantation

BACKGROUND: As it is often difficult for a transplant pathologist to make a definite diagnosis of acute cellular rejection (ACR) by routine morphological analysis of liver allograft biopsy, supplementary methods and objective markers are needed to facilitate this determination. METHODS: To evaluate the diagnostic value of cytotoxic molecules in ACR episodes, immunohistochemical staining for perforin, granzyme B and T-cell intracellular antigen-1 (TIA-1) were performed in liver allograft biopsies. The positive cells in the portal tract area and lobules were counted separately to investigate the distribution of the cytotoxic molecules. RESULTS: The immunohistochemical study showed that the overall positive rates for the three markers were not significantly different between the ACR and non-ACR groups. However, in the portal tract area, perforin-, granzyme B- and TIA-1-positive cells in the ACR group were significantly more than those in the non-ACR groups. In the lobules, perforin- and granzyme B-positive cells in the ACR group were significantly more than those in the biliary complication and opportunistic infection groups, while TIA-1-positive cells was significantly fewer than those in non-ACR groups. The numbers of positive cells in the portal tract area correlated with the rejection activity index of ACR. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that, though the overall positive rates have nonsense in ACR diagnosis, the quantification and local distribution analysis of cytotoxic molecule positive cells in liver tissue is helpful for differential diagnosis and severity evaluation of ACR following liver transplantation. VIRTUAL SLIDES: The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/2292255038100487