This is similar to the development of the HCCs that develop years after alcohol abstinence in ALD patients (1). In the mouse model BCD/MDBs are associated with the development of preneoplastic changes (48). MDB forming hepatocytes express the same preneoplastic hepatocyte

phenotype in both mice (50) and humans (4). The basic morphology of the MDB forming BCD is the same in the human liver and the liver in the mouse model of MDB formation (7) (Figure 6). Figure 6 Liver biopsy stained for H&E (A) ×700 and CAM5.2 (B) ×1,050 for keratin 8 and 18. Balloon cells that formed in alcoholic hepatitis are shown where they have formed MDBs. Note that the balloon cells are devoid of keratin except … The first change Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical that occurs when the balloon cell degeneration occurs Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical is the disappearance of the keratin 18/8 cytoskeleton and rounding up of the cell. The balloon cell then differs from the normal polyhedral-shaped cell of neighboring hepatocytes (5). Electron microscopy of balloon cells (Figure 6B, C) shows micro-vesicular fat, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical reduced numbers of mitochondria, reduced glycogen and loss of the normal organelle

arrangement due to the loss of the keratin filament structure. The most dramatic change is in the nucleus, which is large, with euchromatin and vesicular with a prominent nucleolus. When the balloon cell nucleus was immunostained for H3K27me3 the fluorescent Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical intensity was low compared to the surrounding normal liver cell nuclei as shown by morphometric comparison (7). Similarly, pEZH2 was increased in the balloon cells that had formed (7). PEZH2 was increased in the liver when measured by Western blot. These observations supported the working hypothesis that the balloon

cell change is due to epigenetic alteration of gene expression where the nuclear DNA methylation was reduced and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical gene expression was up regulated globally (1). The working hypothesis is that balloon cells are phenotypically changed due to a failure of the H3K27me3/EZH2 to repress gene expression (51). The hallmark of the balloon cell/MDB forming cell is the loss of keratin intermediate filaments which normally span from the plasma membrane to the nuclear membrane (52). Keratin protein regulates protein synthesis not and epithelial cell growth in keratinocytes (53). When MDBs form in the balloon cells in AH, the bile canaliculi disappear and organelles selleck screening library become randomly arranged. In an electron microscopic autoradiography study of synthesis of keratin filament protein using radio labeled S35 methionine as a marker, we showed that the nascent keratin proteins went to MDBs preferentially compared to the normally formed intermediate filaments (54). Most relevant to the role of the BCD/MDB cells linking them to the formation of HCCs is the fact that HCCs often form MDBs in large numbers in humans and in the mouse model (7).