Figure 1

CD163 ⁺ monocytes are highly increased in both the circulation and the liver tissues of patients with hepatitis B induced liver failure. (A, B) Flow cytometry analysis of CD163 expression on freshly isolated monocytes from peripheral blood and tissues. The samples were collected from patients and donors as follows: blood from 20 healthy individuals and 20 patients with hepatitis B induced liver failure; and healthy livers from 3 patients with hepatic hemangioma, and diseased livers from 4 patients with hepatitis B induced liver failure. The percentage of CD14⁺ monocytes expressing CD163 (A) and the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of CD163 expression on CD14⁺ monocytes (B) are shown. The data shown in A are representative dot plots of individuals from more than three independent experiments; B shows the statistical analysis of these samples. The results are expressed as the means ± SEM. Significant differences in comparison with healthy controls are indicated (*P < 0.05). (C) Adjacent sections of paraffin-embedded liver samples of both healthy liver and diseased liver stained with a CD163-targeted antibody, and the typical positive cells are shown as pointed by arrows. 1 out of 15 representative micrographs is shown. Bar, 200 μm.