Abstract
Langerhans cells (LCs) are the main population of antigen-presenting cells lining the epidermis and stratified mucosal epithelia (1). Therefore, they play an important role in the first line of defense against invading pathogens. Upon capture of these pathogens, LCs subsequently migrate to the lymph nodes where they present pathogen-derived antigens to T cells to initiate an adaptive immune response. During this migration, LCs up-regulate cell surface marker HLA-DR and co-stimulatory molecules, while the LC-specific C-type lectin Langerin is down-regulated (reviewed in Refs. (2,3)). In the epidermis, LCs are the only cell population expressing CD1a and this marker is therefore extremely useful to isolate LCs from epidermis (4). Here we discuss a method to isolate human primary LCs from the epidermis in an as immature state as possible. The use of immature LCs is especially important in the investigation of the function of these cells, since few acceptable LC models are available. Immature LCs can be used to further elucidate the function of LCs in pathogen interactions and adaptive immunity.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Boerhaave Clinic for supplying us with the essential materials and T. de Gruijl for helping us with the development of this assay.
This work was supported by the Dutch Scientific Organization (NWO) grants 91204025 (MdJ) and 91746367 (LdW).
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de Jong, M.A., de Witte, L., Geijtenbeek, T.B. (2010). Isolation of Immature Primary Langerhans Cells from Human Epidermal Skin. In: Naik, S. (eds) Dendritic Cell Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 595. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-421-0_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-421-0_4
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