Sanded nuclei in delta patients.

Moreno A, Ramón y Cajal S, Marazuela M, Carreño V, Milicua JM, Cerezo E, Cuesta C, Oliva H.

Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain.

Sanded nuclei are nuclei with eosinophilic inclusions identified by light microscopy in cases of chronic hepatitis B virus infection. In hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections, these inclusions have an almost homogeneous, finely granular texture giving a sandy appearance. They have been related to excess hepatitis B core antigen formation. We have studied liver biopsies from two HBsAg positive immunosuppressed patients with numerous sanded nuclei, morphologically identical to those previously described in hepatitis B. Immunohistochemically, sanded nuclei showed a strong nuclear positivity for delta antigen, but were negative for hepatitis B core antigen. Hepatitis B core particles were not demonstrable by electron microscopy. To our knowledge, this is the first time that sanded nuclei have been related to hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection.