Birbeck granules are unusual rod-shaped structures specific to epidermal Langerhans cells, whose origin and function remain undetermined. We investigated the intracellular location and fate of Langerin, a protein implicated in Birbeck granule biogenesis, in human epidermal Langerhans cells. In the steady state, Langerin is predominantly found in the endosomal recycling compartment and in Birbec...

Introduction Gretchen Birbeck is a Professor of Neurology and Epidemiology at Michigan State University. She has roles in clinical neurology, epidemiology and health services research with a keen interest in the optimal management of neurological conditions in resource-limited settings. Based in southern Africa for half of the year, she has firsthand experience in the management of such conditi...

During the last few years increasing attention has been focused on Langerhans cells and their peculiar granules (1-5). These organelles were considered specific products of the intraepidermal dendritic cells (1-3), but recently identical structures have been observed in osseous and pulmonary lesions of histiocytosis X (6). The Langerhans cell granule resembles a tennis racket. It is rodlike wit...

We report of a 29-year-old man presented with yellow-red, scaling papules on the skin of scalp, retro-auricular folds, inguinal, axillary, chest and abdomen. The lesions had a poikilodermatious appearance in some areas, such as trunk. The patient also had diabetes insipidus and skull osteolytic lesions. The diagnosis of langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) was suggested based on H and E staining...

We have recently described a system for the generation of dendritic cells (DC) and Langerhans cells (LC) from defined CD34+ precursors purified from peripheral blood of healthy adult volunteers. This study has now been extended by the characterization of two distinct subpopulations of CD34+ cells in normal human peripheral blood as defined by the expression of the skin homing receptor cutaneous...

CD133 is a hallmark of primitive myeloid progenitors. We have addressed whether human cord blood cells selected for CD133 can generate dendritic cells, and Langerhans cells in particular, in conditions that promote that generation from CD34(+) progenitors. Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and anti-TGF-β1 antibody, respectively, were added in some experiments. With TGF-β, monocytoid cells ...