Patent hepatic ciliated foregut remnant resulting in an umbilicobiliary sinus tract, with gallbladder agenesis, in an 8-wk-old male French Bulldog.

Hepatic ciliated foregut remnants or cysts are congenital abnormalities resulting from retention of embryonic ciliated foregut within the liver. These structures are rarely reported in the human medical literature and have not been reported in the veterinary literature previously, to our knowledge. We describe here a case of an 8-wk-old male French Bulldog with a congenital patent hepatic ciliated foregut remnant resulting in an umbilicobiliary sinus tract.

Mineralization of alpha-1-antitrypsin inclusion bodies in Mmalton alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency.

Background: Alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency (AATD) of Z, Mmalton, Siiyama type is associated with liver storage of the mutant proteins and liver disease. The Z variant can be diagnosed on isoelectric focusing (IEF) while Mmalton and Siiyama may be missed or misdiagnosed with this technique. Therefore, molecular analysis is mandatory for their characterization.

Morphologic and immunohistochemical characterization of granulomas in the nucleotide oligomerization domain 2-related disorders Blau syndrome and Crohn disease.

Background: Blau syndrome (BS) and Crohn disease (CD) are both characterized by granulomatous inflammation and related to nucleotide oligomerization domain 2 (NOD2) mutations.

Objective: This study aimed to define the morphologic and immunohistochemical characteristics of granulomas in patients with NOD2-related BS and CD.

Methods: Granuloma-containing biopsy specimens from 6 patients with BS and 7 pediatric patients with CD carrying NOD2 mutations or single nucleotide polymorphisms were studied for morphology, cellular composition, and cytokine expression by using hematoxylin and eosin staining and immunohistochemistry.

Ductal plates in hepatic ductular reactions. Hypothesis and implications. III. Implications for liver pathology.

This article discusses on the basis of the ductal plate hypothesis the implication of the concept for several liver abnormalities. The occurrence of ductal plates (DP) during liver growth in childhood would explain the paraportal and parenchymal localizations of von Meyenburg complexes in postnatally developed parts of the liver, and their higher incidence in adulthood versus childhood. It partly clarifies the lack of postnatal intrahepatic bile duct development in Alagille syndrome and the reduced number of portal tracts in this disease.

Ductal plates in hepatic ductular reactions. Hypothesis and implications. II. Ontogenic liver growth in childhood.

This article discusses the processes of bile duct growth and new lobule formation in the liver during childhood in the light of the ductal plate (DP) hypothesis. Unlike in other organs in which tubular elongation and branching ends with the creation of the organ-specific terminal differentiation products, in the liver a steadily enlarging parenchymal mass needs to establish continuity of its canalicular network with the existing bile duct system. The hypothesis suggests that this occurs by DP formation, like in the embryonic liver, and further assumes that pathological ductular reactions (DRs) induced by cholestasis or hypoxia are amplified equivalents of similar mechanisms operating at low level during liver growth.

Ductal plates in hepatic ductular reactions. Hypothesis and implications. I. Types of ductular reaction reconsidered.

This article focuses on the observation that most hepatic ductular reactions (DRs) have ductal plate (DP)-like patterns. Considering old and recent data, it hypothesizes that in DR, dedifferentiation of hepatocytes in ductular metaplasia may lead to the de novo development of liver stem/progenitor cells (LPCs). The three recognized types of DR are reconsidered, and an additional fourth type, DR type 2B, is added.

Keratin 19 marks poor differentiation and a more aggressive behaviour in canine and human hepatocellular tumours.

Background: The expression of Keratin 19 (K19) was reported in a subset of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). K19 positive HCCs are associated with an increased malignancy compared to K19 negative HCCs. No suitable mouse models exist for this subtype of HCC, nor is the incidence of K19 expression in hepatocellular neoplasia in model animals known.

The amazing universe of hepatic microstructure.

An informal review is presented by the author of his 50 years of involvement in practice and research in hepatopathology. Some background for the author's attitude and meandering pathway into his professional career serves as introduction to a short discussion of the main topics of his interest and expertise. Histogenesis of liver cancer was the theme of early work for a Ph.

Clinicopathological study on cholangiolocellular carcinoma suggesting hepatic progenitor cell origin.

Unlabelled: Cholangiolocellular carcinoma (CLC), a subtype of cholangiocellular carcinoma (CC), is thought to originate from the ductules/canals of Hering, where hepatic progenitor cells (HPCs) are located. We investigated the clinicopathological features of 30 CLCs and their relationship to HPCs. We evaluated the expression of hepatocytic markers (hepatocyte paraffin-1, canalicular polyclonal carcinoembryonic antigen, and CD10), biliary/HPC markers (keratin [K]7, K19, and neural cell adhesion molecule), the adenosine triphosphate binding cassette transporters: multidrug resistance protein 1, multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP)1, MRP3, and breast cancer resistance protein, using immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy.

[Cystic diseases of the liver. From embryology to malformations].

Cystic diseases of the liver which are in most cases hereditary, are related to an embryonic disorder know as ductal plate malformation. These diseases correspond to partial or total arrest of remodeling of the ductal plate, leading to more or less complete persistence of the excess of embryonic biliary structures. The ductal plate malformation may concern different segments of the intrahepatic biliary tree (segmental bile ducts, interlobular bile ducts and the smallest bile duct ramifications) leading to various pathoclinical entities.

Diagnostic and pathogenetic implications of the expression of hepatic transporters in focal lesions occurring in normal liver.

Hepatocellular adenoma and focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) are benign liver tumours. The differential diagnosis of these lesions and of well- to moderately differentiated hepatocellular carcinomas is often difficult but is very important in view of their different treatment. Although neither type of lesion is connected to the biliary tree, FNHs are cholestatic, whereas this is rarely the case for hepatocellular adenomas.

Progenitor cells in diseased human liver.

Hepatic progenitor cells are immature epithelial cells that reside in the smallest ramifications of the biliary tree in human liver. These cells are capable of differentiating toward the biliary and the hepatocytic lineages and represent the human counterpart of the oval cells in murine liver. An increased number of progenitor cells (referred to as "activation") and differentiation of the same toward hepatocytes or bile duct epithelial cells, or both, is a component of virtually all human liver diseases.