THE NON-LANGERHANS CELL HISTIOCYTOSES IN CHILDHOOD

The cutaneous histiocytoses are best divided in the Langerhans' cell h istiocytoses and non-langerhans' cell histiocytoses. In the former gro up, the cells react with S100 and CD1a antibodies, while in the latter group they express a variety of macrophage markers. Xanthogranuloma i s a frequent childhood tumor and the only common non-langerhans' cell histiocytosis. Xanthogranulomas contain a mixture of several different types of histiocytes that also appear in more pure forms as both soli tary tumors and disseminated processes. The varying histiocyte morphol ogy provides a unifying concept for non-Langerhans' cell histiocytoses .