The contribution of Langerhans cells to cutaneous malignancy.
The skin is at the forefront of environmental exposures, such as ultraviolet radiation and a myriad of chemicals, and is at risk for malignant transformation. The skin is a highly responsive immunological organ that contains a unique population of immature intraepidermal dendritic cells (DCs) called Langerhans cells (LCs). Although LCs show morphological and migratory changes in response to epidermal perturbation, and can function as antigen-presenting cells to activate T cells, their role in carcinogenesis is unknown. Here we review recent studies that have provided clues to the potential roles that LCs might play in the pathogenesis of skin cancer, beyond their stimulation or regulation of adaptive immunity. Understanding this role of LCs might provide new perspectives on the relevance of DC populations that are resident within other epithelial tissues for cancer.
Department of Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA.
Julia
J
Lewis
Renata
R
Filler
Debra A
DA
Smith
Kseniya
K
Golubets
Michael
M
Girardi
D056704:Adaptive Immunity; D000818:Animals; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007801:Langerhans Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D018448:Models, Immunological; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology