Turnover of Epidermal Langerhans' Cells

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Abstract
Langerhans' cells are epidermal dendritic, antigen-presenting cells. Data from experiments in animals and observations in humans after transplantation of sex-mismatched bone marrow allografts have shown that Langerhans' cells originate from bone marrow precursors.1 However, epidermal Langerhans' cells are capable of self-regeneration, as shown by the incorporation of [3H]thymidine or bromodeoxyuridine2 and by electron-microscopical observations of mitotic Langerhans' cells.3 Recent data from studies in chimeric mice suggest that, under steady-state conditions, the efflux of Langerhans' cells to local lymph nodes would be balanced by the division of Langerhans' cells within the epidermis, whereas under conditions that severely deplete epidermal Langerhans' cells, keratinocyte-produced chemokines would recruit Langerhans'-cell precursors from the peripheral blood.4