can progenitor cells migrate?
Ductular reaction and putative progenitor cells (or ‘progenitor cells’), which are presumed to be the human counterpart of the oval cells in rat liver, have been discerned in various human liver diseases, including chronic viral hepatitis. Since in experimental models of chronic hepatitis the activation of oval cells is correlated with the inflammatory infiltrate, this study investigated whether there is a correlation in chronic viral hepatitis between the number of ‘progenitor cells’ extending into the lobule and the severity of parenchymal inflammation, on the one hand, and the extent of ductular reaction and the severity of interface hepatitis, on the other hand. Liver biopsies of 55 patients with chronic hepatitis B and/or C were used. The severity of parenchymal inflammation and of interface hepatitis was semiquantitatively graded on a haematoxylin and eosin-stained paraffin section, while the number of ‘progenitor cells’ and the extent of the ductular reaction were assessed on a
