Langerhans cells in human papillomavirus (HPV) lesions of the uterine cervix identified by the monoclonal antibody OKT‐6

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Abstract
The local inflammatory cell infiltrates in 263 cervical punch biopsies of the women followed-up since 1981 (16 .+-. 14 mo. mean .+-. SD) for an established human papillomavirus (HPV) lesion with or without concomitant cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) were analyzed for occurrence of Langerhans cells, defined by the monoclonal antibody OKT-6, using the avidin-biotin peroxidase complex (ABC) technique. OKT-6+ cells remained at a constant low level (1.5-1.9% of the inflammatory cells) in different types of HPV lesions (flat, inverted or papillomatous condylomas), their percentages (range 0.8-2.1% of the cells) being slightly affected by the grade of HPV-associated CIN, (P < 0.05 between HPV-CIN 1 and HPV-CIS). Although cervical HPV lesions characteristically are a disease of young females, the relative levels of in situ Langerhans cells did not show any age dependence. The intensity of the inflammatory cell infiltrate did not correlate with the relative levels of OKT-6+ cells in the biopsies. Partically identical (1.6%) levels of OKT-6+ cells were found in the first biopsies of the HPV lesions shown to regress during the follow-up period (28.8% of cases), when compared with those (1.7%) in the lesions persisted (52.1% of cases) or progressed (19.1% of lesions). The results are discussed in terms of the proposed immune surveillance function against viral infections attributed to Langerhans cells in the skin-associated lymphiod tissue/mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue concept. The results confirm the presence of Langerhans cells as integral constituents of the local immunocompetent cell infiltrates in uterine cervix, and as such they may contribute to the regulation of the clinical course of HPV lesions by the in situ immune reactions.