Original Article

Journal of Investigative Dermatology (1996) 106, 446–453; doi:10.1111/1523-1747.ep12343596

Immunomorphological and Ultrastructural Characterization of Langerhans Cells and a Novel, Inflammatory Dendritic Epidermal Cell (IDEC) Population in Lesional Skin of Atopic Eczema

Andreas Wollenberg1, Stefan Kraft1, Daniel Hanau2 and Thomas Bieber1

  1. 1Department of Dermatology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany
  2. 2Laboratoire d'Histocompatibilité Etablissement de Transfusion Sanguine, Strasbourg, France

Received 17 June 1995; Revised 16 October 1995; Accepted 31 October 1995.

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Abstract

We investigated epidermal cell suspensions prepared from lesional and nonlesional atopic eczema skin, other inflammatory skin conditions, and normal human skin for high-affinity IgE receptor (Fcalt epsilonRI) expression on dendritic CD1a cells by quantitative flow cytometric analysis. A single CD1abright/CD1bneg/Fcalt epsilonRIdim/CD23neg/CD32dim/HLA-DRbright/CD36negpopulation was found in normal skin. In contrast, lesional skin of atopic eczema and other inflammatory skin diseases harbored variable proportions of two distinct CD1a populations. Both populations exhibited typical ultrastructural features of Langerhans cells, but the second one lacked Birbeck granules and was unreactive to the Birbeck granule- specific LAG antibody. Both populations differed phenotypically: classical Langerhans cells were CD1abright/CD1bneg /Fcalt epsilonRIbright /CD23neg/CD32dim/HLA-DRbright/CD36dim, while the second population was CD 1adim/CD1bdim/Fcalt epsilonRIbright/CD23dim/CD32dim/HLA-DRbright/CD36bright. The highest Fcalt epsilonRI expression was found on the second CD1a population in lesional atopic eczema skin. Furthermore, Fcalt epsilonRI expression on CD1a cells correlated significantly with the serum IgE level of the patients. Thus, a distinct population of CD1a inflammatory dendritic epidermal cells different from classical Langerhans cells appears in the epidermis of lesional skin and is subjected to specific signals leading to the upregulation of Fcalt epsilonRI in atopic eczema skin.

Keywords:

atopy, IgE receptor, Langerhans cells, psoriasis

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