Mallory-Denk bodies are associated with which liver diseases?

Mallory-Denk bodies are associated with which liver diseases?

• A. Fatty liver disease and alcoholic hepatitis.
• B. Hepatic adenoma.
• C. Autoimmune hepatitis only.
• D. Biliary cirrhosis only.

Answer: (A)

Mallory-Denk bodies are cytoplasmic inclusions made of damaged intermediate filaments (cytokeratin 8/18) that appear in hepatocytes after significant liver injury. They are a hallmark of hepatocellular damage from alcohol-related disease and from fatty liver disease with steatohepatitis. In alcoholic hepatitis and in fatty liver disease, hepatocytes undergo ballooning degeneration and lipid accumulation, and MDBs form as a response to this stress. That pattern is why the combination of fatty liver disease and alcoholic hepatitis best matches the association. Hepatic adenoma is a benign tumor and does not characteristically feature Mallory-Denk bodies. Autoimmune hepatitis shows a different histologic picture dominated by interface hepatitis with plasma cells, not MDBs. Biliary cirrhosis (primary biliary cholangitis) involves cholestasis and bile duct injury rather than the MDB-associated hepatocellular injury.

Mallory-Denk bodies are cytoplasmic inclusions made of damaged intermediate filaments (cytokeratin 8/18) that appear in hepatocytes after significant liver injury. They are a hallmark of hepatocellular damage from alcohol-related disease and from fatty liver disease with steatohepatitis. In alcoholic hepatitis and in fatty liver disease, hepatocytes undergo ballooning degeneration and lipid accumulation, and MDBs form as a response to this stress. That pattern is why the combination of fatty liver disease and alcoholic hepatitis best matches the association.

Hepatic adenoma is a benign tumor and does not characteristically feature Mallory-Denk bodies. Autoimmune hepatitis shows a different histologic picture dominated by interface hepatitis with plasma cells, not MDBs. Biliary cirrhosis (primary biliary cholangitis) involves cholestasis and bile duct injury rather than the MDB-associated hepatocellular injury.