Isolation of Differentially Expressed Genes in Epidermal Langerhans Cells

Epidermal Langerhans cells (LC) represent immature dendritic cells (DC) resident in the skin, which are not yet able to prime naive T cells1. In vitro cultivation of LC in the presence of keratinocytes, supplying survival and differentiation signals, induces maturation events in LC2. These are highlighted by the downregulation of the biosynthesis of MHC class II molecules3, by the upregulation of the surface expression of adhesion and costimulatory molecules like CD80, CD86, CD54 and CD584,5, and by the acquisition of a potent immunostimulatory capacity for T cells6. Mature LC are potent inducers of naive T cells. Thus LC represent an ideal model system to investigate the maturation of DC (…