- Email: [email protected]
Langerhans Cell
0022-202X/81/7603-0224$02.00/0 TH E JOURNAL OF I N VESTI G ATIV E DERMAT OLOGY,
76:224, 1981
Vo l. 76, No. 3 Printed in U.S.A.
Copyrigh t © 1981 by The Williams & Wilkins Co.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We are pleased to receive Letters to the Editor on appropriate subjects. These le tters should be s~b.mitted in typewritten form , doubl e-spaced, and a r e not to exceed 2' /2 pages. When aPllropnate, we wlJl solIcit comments from the orig inal a uthors . All Le tters to the Editor a re subj ect to ed itmg and pOSSibl e abrIdgment.
LAN GERHAN S CELL To t he Ed itor: I would like to raise so me points regarding the extremely va lu able paper of Dr. Bergstresser a nd his co ll eagues ("Natural a nd Disturbed Distribu tions of Langerha ns CeLIs: Respo nse to Ultrav iolet Ligh t, Heterotopic Skin Grafting, and Dinitroflu orobenzene sensitization" (J Invest DermaloI75:73-77, 1980)). Murine neo nata l orthokeratotic tail sk in develops its "blocks" of parakeratotic scale over the first 2 weeks of life [1]. Derma l dendritic ceLIs home to the mm'ine ort hokeratotic epidermis of back a nd peri fo llicular tail skin duri ng t he first week. Their dendritic nature a nd positivity for nonspecific esterase [2] and a denosine triphosph atase [3] suggest t hat they are La ngerha ns ceLIs (LC). This ecotax is avo ids th e parakeratotic scale regions to whi ch dopa-positive mela nocytes h ome [2]. 1. Dr. Bergstresser repOl'ts (p 75) that there was an invasion of t he scales by LC (replacing mela nocytes) a nd t hat this skin beca me " in distinguishable from body wall skin," except for t he preservation of the hair follicl e cl usters. T his occurred at the edges of the gra ft and a 25% area of t he graft surface. First, was t he 25% area randomly distribu ted, confin ed to a particular area spreading from t he edge or was it related to hair follicles? Also, in the fo llowing paragraph, Dr. B ergstresser writes th at ATPase-positive LC were co un ted in t he central portions of th e gr aft (Tab le VI) and that t heil' number was "slightl y increased" in the scales. Surely there ar e normally no LC in the scales-they are str ictly confin ed to th e hair follicl e (interscale ) epidermis. 2. It would be very useful to hear more histological details of cha nges towards the surrounding body skin of the LC-inva ded scale. In parti cular, was t here dermal thinning, development of keratoh yalin granules or changes towards t he perifollicular type of orthokeratini zation? H ere the use of the Congo Red/ Thioflavine l' differen tia l staining of or thoand parakeratotic horny layers [4] a nd Sam'at's cyto pl asmic a ntibodies which a ppeal' to different iate keratinizing tendencies [5] may be usefu l to co mpar e di ffere nt sites in the graft wit h nOl'ma l tail and host body skin. . 3. Changes in epidermal morphology ap Pal'ently associated wi th LC invasion has been· previously noted in several experim en ta l alterations of keratinization (hypovitaminosis A in mu co us membranes [6,7], retinyl acetate-treated parakeratotic tail s kin [8] a nd some huma n disorders of keratinization [9]. As Dr. Bergstresser points out, it is fascinati ng that t he epidermal changes towards h ost tissue occurred in a full t hickness graft. It would be very val ua ble in Dr. Bergstresser's syste m, via LC tagging, to see if th e scale- invading LC origin ate from the host or by local division of the ha ir follicle 'population of the graft, a nd subsequently t9 examine t he stimuli ·1'0 1' t his and the immunological consequ ences on the long-term fate of t he graft. If host in origin, could the LC medi ate an insidious late rejection?
REFERENCES 1. Wrench R: Th e isolation, prod uction a nd development of derma-
tolog,ically active constituents in coal ta r, PhD t hesis, University of Aston, 1973
2. Wrench R: D endritic cell migrations in vo lving t he pil osebaceous unit in the development of murine skin . Zool J Linnea n Soc 70: 19-53, 1980 3. Schwe izer J, M arks F: A developmen ta l study of the distribu t ion a nd frequency of Langerhans cells in relation to fo rm ation of patterning in mouse tail epidermis. J Invest D ermato l 69:198204, 1977 4. J arrett A, S pearman RIC: The Histochemistry of t he Skin-Psoriasis. Eng Univ Press, 1964 , p 32. 5. Saurat J-H, Didierjean L , Beucher F, Gluckma n E: Immun ofluorescen t tracing of cytoplasmi c components involved in keratocyte differe ntiation. Br J Dermatol 98.:155-.163, 1978 6. Wong Y-C, Buck RC: Langerhans cells 111 epidermOId h yperplas ia. J In vest Dermatol 56:10-17, 1971 7. Hicks RM: Hyperplasia and cornification of t he tr a nsit iona l e pit helium in the Vi tam in A-d eficient rat. Ultrastru ct Res 22:206-230, 1968 8. J arrett A Wrench R , M a hmoud B: Gra nular layer indu ction following the'topical application of prolifera ting agents. Arch D ermatol R es 264:143-151, 1979 9. Pru nieras M: Inte ractions between keratinocytes a nd de ndritic cells. J Invest Dermatol 52:1-17, 1969 Rosanne Wrench, BSc, PhD, MIBiol Wolfson Coll ege Ca mbridge CB3 9BB Great Britain REPLY TO DR WRENCH We are pleased t hat our paper conce rning perturbations in La ngerha ns ce ll distribu tions has been of in te rest to Dr. Wrench. We were in trigu ed , as she has been, by t he obser vation t hat portions of a tail s kin graft which was placed heterotopically on a body wa ll s ite developed the morphologi cal appearance of body wall skin. This cha nge d id occ ur as Dr. Wrench suspects, only in ar eas adjacen t to recipient skin. We h ~d hoped, for our own purpose of assessing in vivo immunologic fun ctions of Langerhans cells, that t his "conve rsion" might exte nd to include the entire graft. Such was not the case, as in a long-term study we obsel'ved no progression at a ll. In fa ct, most grafts exhibi ted "conversion" in less than 25% of t he graft al'ea, making t he origin al observation mu ch less in teresting, a nd the Val·ious studi es proposed by Dr. Wrench have consequ ently not been co ndu cted. With respect to th e second question, Langerh a ns cells do not OCCU1' n orma lly in t he parakeratotic portion of murine tail scales. Our confusing terminology developed from the a bsence of a n approp riate E nglish word to define that area of tail skin which includes one cen tral scale plus its adjacent in terscale ar ea (in which Langerh ans ce lls d o OCCU1') . To enumerate Langerhans cells with respect to that area, we ch ose to phrase "Langerha ns ce LIs per scale", eve n thou gh the cells th emselves were obse rved in the immed iately adjace nt orth okeratotic s kin. Paul R Bergstresser, M.D. Galen B . T oews, M.D . J. Wayne Streilein, M.D . PRB /ca b
224
76:224, 1981
Vo l. 76, No. 3 Printed in U.S.A.
Copyrigh t © 1981 by The Williams & Wilkins Co.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR We are pleased to receive Letters to the Editor on appropriate subjects. These le tters should be s~b.mitted in typewritten form , doubl e-spaced, and a r e not to exceed 2' /2 pages. When aPllropnate, we wlJl solIcit comments from the orig inal a uthors . All Le tters to the Editor a re subj ect to ed itmg and pOSSibl e abrIdgment.
LAN GERHAN S CELL To t he Ed itor: I would like to raise so me points regarding the extremely va lu able paper of Dr. Bergstresser a nd his co ll eagues ("Natural a nd Disturbed Distribu tions of Langerha ns CeLIs: Respo nse to Ultrav iolet Ligh t, Heterotopic Skin Grafting, and Dinitroflu orobenzene sensitization" (J Invest DermaloI75:73-77, 1980)). Murine neo nata l orthokeratotic tail sk in develops its "blocks" of parakeratotic scale over the first 2 weeks of life [1]. Derma l dendritic ceLIs home to the mm'ine ort hokeratotic epidermis of back a nd peri fo llicular tail skin duri ng t he first week. Their dendritic nature a nd positivity for nonspecific esterase [2] and a denosine triphosph atase [3] suggest t hat they are La ngerha ns ceLIs (LC). This ecotax is avo ids th e parakeratotic scale regions to whi ch dopa-positive mela nocytes h ome [2]. 1. Dr. Bergstresser repOl'ts (p 75) that there was an invasion of t he scales by LC (replacing mela nocytes) a nd t hat this skin beca me " in distinguishable from body wall skin," except for t he preservation of the hair follicl e cl usters. T his occurred at the edges of the gra ft and a 25% area of t he graft surface. First, was t he 25% area randomly distribu ted, confin ed to a particular area spreading from t he edge or was it related to hair follicles? Also, in the fo llowing paragraph, Dr. B ergstresser writes th at ATPase-positive LC were co un ted in t he central portions of th e gr aft (Tab le VI) and that t heil' number was "slightl y increased" in the scales. Surely there ar e normally no LC in the scales-they are str ictly confin ed to th e hair follicl e (interscale ) epidermis. 2. It would be very useful to hear more histological details of cha nges towards the surrounding body skin of the LC-inva ded scale. In parti cular, was t here dermal thinning, development of keratoh yalin granules or changes towards t he perifollicular type of orthokeratini zation? H ere the use of the Congo Red/ Thioflavine l' differen tia l staining of or thoand parakeratotic horny layers [4] a nd Sam'at's cyto pl asmic a ntibodies which a ppeal' to different iate keratinizing tendencies [5] may be usefu l to co mpar e di ffere nt sites in the graft wit h nOl'ma l tail and host body skin. . 3. Changes in epidermal morphology ap Pal'ently associated wi th LC invasion has been· previously noted in several experim en ta l alterations of keratinization (hypovitaminosis A in mu co us membranes [6,7], retinyl acetate-treated parakeratotic tail s kin [8] a nd some huma n disorders of keratinization [9]. As Dr. Bergstresser points out, it is fascinati ng that t he epidermal changes towards h ost tissue occurred in a full t hickness graft. It would be very val ua ble in Dr. Bergstresser's syste m, via LC tagging, to see if th e scale- invading LC origin ate from the host or by local division of the ha ir follicle 'population of the graft, a nd subsequently t9 examine t he stimuli ·1'0 1' t his and the immunological consequ ences on the long-term fate of t he graft. If host in origin, could the LC medi ate an insidious late rejection?
REFERENCES 1. Wrench R: Th e isolation, prod uction a nd development of derma-
tolog,ically active constituents in coal ta r, PhD t hesis, University of Aston, 1973
2. Wrench R: D endritic cell migrations in vo lving t he pil osebaceous unit in the development of murine skin . Zool J Linnea n Soc 70: 19-53, 1980 3. Schwe izer J, M arks F: A developmen ta l study of the distribu t ion a nd frequency of Langerhans cells in relation to fo rm ation of patterning in mouse tail epidermis. J Invest D ermato l 69:198204, 1977 4. J arrett A, S pearman RIC: The Histochemistry of t he Skin-Psoriasis. Eng Univ Press, 1964 , p 32. 5. Saurat J-H, Didierjean L , Beucher F, Gluckma n E: Immun ofluorescen t tracing of cytoplasmi c components involved in keratocyte differe ntiation. Br J Dermatol 98.:155-.163, 1978 6. Wong Y-C, Buck RC: Langerhans cells 111 epidermOId h yperplas ia. J In vest Dermatol 56:10-17, 1971 7. Hicks RM: Hyperplasia and cornification of t he tr a nsit iona l e pit helium in the Vi tam in A-d eficient rat. Ultrastru ct Res 22:206-230, 1968 8. J arrett A Wrench R , M a hmoud B: Gra nular layer indu ction following the'topical application of prolifera ting agents. Arch D ermatol R es 264:143-151, 1979 9. Pru nieras M: Inte ractions between keratinocytes a nd de ndritic cells. J Invest Dermatol 52:1-17, 1969 Rosanne Wrench, BSc, PhD, MIBiol Wolfson Coll ege Ca mbridge CB3 9BB Great Britain REPLY TO DR WRENCH We are pleased t hat our paper conce rning perturbations in La ngerha ns ce ll distribu tions has been of in te rest to Dr. Wrench. We were in trigu ed , as she has been, by t he obser vation t hat portions of a tail s kin graft which was placed heterotopically on a body wa ll s ite developed the morphologi cal appearance of body wall skin. This cha nge d id occ ur as Dr. Wrench suspects, only in ar eas adjacen t to recipient skin. We h ~d hoped, for our own purpose of assessing in vivo immunologic fun ctions of Langerhans cells, that t his "conve rsion" might exte nd to include the entire graft. Such was not the case, as in a long-term study we obsel'ved no progression at a ll. In fa ct, most grafts exhibi ted "conversion" in less than 25% of t he graft al'ea, making t he origin al observation mu ch less in teresting, a nd the Val·ious studi es proposed by Dr. Wrench have consequ ently not been co ndu cted. With respect to th e second question, Langerh a ns cells do not OCCU1' n orma lly in t he parakeratotic portion of murine tail scales. Our confusing terminology developed from the a bsence of a n approp riate E nglish word to define that area of tail skin which includes one cen tral scale plus its adjacent in terscale ar ea (in which Langerh ans ce lls d o OCCU1') . To enumerate Langerhans cells with respect to that area, we ch ose to phrase "Langerha ns ce LIs per scale", eve n thou gh the cells th emselves were obse rved in the immed iately adjace nt orth okeratotic s kin. Paul R Bergstresser, M.D. Galen B . T oews, M.D . J. Wayne Streilein, M.D . PRB /ca b
224