Increased Level of Phosphotyrosine in Human Dendritic Cells under Stimulation with Contact Sensitizers but Not Irritants

In the last years evidence was presented for the activation of dendritic cells (DC) under stimulation with contact sensitizers. Most data were obtained for murine Langerhans cells (LC) whereas in man blood-derived dendritic cells were found to be a more suitable model to study the mechanism of DC activation by haptens. The first observation was the upregulation of MHC class II molecules on murine Langerhans cells in vivo1 followed by their migration from the epidermis into regional lymph nodes2. Very early events during this activation include the upregulation of IL-1s in murine LC3 as well as the endocytotic activation of this cell type4. Based on the last observation attempts were made to…