The Journal of Immunology, Vol 150, Issue 1 59-66, Copyright © 1993 by American Association of Immunologists

ARTICLES

Fresh and cultured Langerhans cells display differential capacities to activate hapten-specific T cells

R Dai, SF Grammer and JW Streilein
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Miami School of Medicine, FL 33101.

Langerhans cells (LC) that have been cultured for 3 days acquire potent T cell-activating properties when compared to freshly prepared, uncultured LC. By contrast, fresh LC are superior to cultured LC in the ability to process native protein Ag. To define further the disparate functional properties of these epidermally derived APC, freshly isolated and cultured epidermal cells (EC) enriched for LC were prepared from BALB/c mice. Highly purified T cells from naive mice, and from mice sensitized epicutaneously with dinitrofluorobenzene, have been examined for their capacity to respond to fresh and cultured EC; 1) in the presence of staphylococcal enterotoxin B; and 2) after the EC had been derivatized with dinitrofluorobenzene. Both fresh and cultured EC activated syngeneic T cells in the presence of staphylococcal enterotoxin B, and fresh and cultured DNP-derivatized EC induced proliferation among DNP-specific T cells. Only cultured, hapten- derivatized EC were able to activate unprimed syngeneic T cells in vitro, and these cells responded as though "primed" when re-exposed to DNP-derivatized spleen cells in secondary cultures. In addition, naive lymphocytes that were activated by cultured DNP-EC were able to evoke local contact hypersensitivity reactions when injected into the pinnae of naive mice that were then painted with dinitrofluorobenzene. By contrast, naive syngeneic T cells exposed to fresh DNP-EC neither proliferated nor differentiated into effector cells. We conclude that fresh LC can constitutively activate primed, but not unprimed, hapten- specific T cells, whereas cultured LC readily both primed and unprimed T cells. The capacity of hapten-derivatized cultured EC to convert naive, hapten-specific T cells into cells that mediate contact hypersensitivity supports the proposal that cultured LC are the functional equivalents of epidermal LC that have migrated to draining lymph nodes. The ability of hapten-derivatized fresh LC to activate primed, hapten-specific T cells is consistent with the view that fresh LC are functionally equivalent to LC within the epidermis.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. Papaccio, F. Nicoletti, F. Aurelio Pisanti, K. Bendtzen, and M. galdieri Prevention of Spontaneous Autoimmune Diabetes in NOD Mice by Transferring in Vitro Antigen-Pulsed Syngeneic Dendritic Cells Endocrinology, April 1, 2000; 141(4): 1500 - 1505. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. Hasseus, M. Jontell, G. Bergenholtz, C. Eklund, and U.I. Dahlgren Langerhans Cells from Oral Epithelium are More Effective in Stimulating Allogeneic T-cells in vitro than Langerhans Cells from Skin Epithelium Journal of Dental Research, March 1, 1999; 78(3): 751 - 758. [Abstract] [PDF]

				K. Shortman and C. Caux Dendritic Cell Development: Multiple Pathways to Nature's Adjuvants Stem Cells, November 1, 1997; 15(6): 409 - 419. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				A.W. Barrett, A.T. Cruchley, and D.M. Williams Oral Mucosal Langerhans' Cells Critical Reviews in Oral Biology & Medicine, January 1, 1996; 7(1): 36 - 58. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]