Langerhans cell antigen capture through tight junctions confers preemptive immunity in experimental staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome

Epidermal LCs but not dermal DCs take up skin surface protein through intact tight junctions and mediate IgG1 antibody responses to bacterial antigen, conferring protective immunization

Langerhans Cells Prevent Autoimmunity via Expansion of Keratinocyte Antigen-Specific Regulatory T Cells

Langerhans cells (LCs) are antigen-presenting cells in the epidermis whose roles in antigen-specific immune regulation remain incompletely understood. Desmoglein 3 (Dsg3) is a keratinocyte cell-cell adhesion molecule critical for epidermal integrity and an autoantigen in the autoimmune blistering disease pemphigus. Although antibody-mediated disease mechanisms in pemphigus are extensively characterized, the T cell aspect of this autoimmune disease still remains poorly understood. Herein, we utilized a mouse model of CD4+ T cell-mediated autoimmunity against Dsg3 to show that acquisition of Dsg3 and subsequent presentation to T cells by LCs depended on the C-type lectin langerin. The lack of LCs led to enhanced autoimmunity with impaired Dsg3-specific regulatory T cell expansion. LCs expressed the IL-2 receptor complex and the disruption of IL-2 signaling in LCs attenuated LC-mediated regulatory T cell expansion in vitro, demonstrating that direct IL-2 signaling shapes LC function. These data establish that LCs mediate peripheral tolerance against an epidermal autoantigen and point to langerin and IL-2 signaling pathways as attractive targets for achieving tolerogenic responses particularly in autoimmune blistering diseases such as pemphigus

Stress-induced production of chemokines by hair follicles regulates the trafficking of dendritic cells in skin

Langerhans cells (LCs) are epidermal dendritic cells with incompletely understood origins that associate with hair follicles for unknown reasons. Here we show that in response to external stress, mouse hair follicles recruited Gr-1(hi) monocyte-derived precursors of LCs whose epidermal entry was dependent on the chemokine receptors CCR2 and CCR6, whereas the chemokine receptor CCR8 inhibited the recruitment of LCs. Distinct hair-follicle regions had differences in their expression of ligands for CCR2 and CCR6. The isthmus expressed the chemokine CCL2; the infundibulum expressed the chemokine CCL20; and keratinocytes in the bulge produced the chemokine CCL8, which is the ligand for CCR8. Thus, distinct hair-follicle keratinocyte subpopulations promoted or inhibited repopulation with LCs via differences in chemokine production, a feature also noted in humans. Pre-LCs failed to enter hairless skin in mice or humans, which establishes hair follicles as portals for LCs