Cc. Compton et al., HIV-INFECTED LANGERHANS CELLS CONSTITUTE A SIGNIFICANT PROPORTION OF THE EPIDERMAL LANGERHANS CELL-POPULATION THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF HIV DISEASE, Journal of investigative dermatology, 107(6), 1996, pp. 822-826
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is known to infect Langerhans cells
, but controversy still exists about the occurrence of HIV-infected La
ngerhans cells in the skin of HIV-infected individuals and about the d
ensity of epidermal Langerhans cells during the course of HIV disease.
In this study, epidermal Langerhans cell population densities were an
alyzed quantitatively in serial biopsies from two burn patients acquir
ed over an 11-y period following infection with HIV from transfusions
received during their acute treatment, At each biopsy time point, the
density of epidermal Langerhans cells and the proportion that were inf
ected with HIV were analyzed by immunostaining. In both patients, skin
grafts were slow to repopulate with Langerhans cells and did not atta
in normal Langerhans cell densities until about 2 y after grafting, Th
ereafter, Langerhans cell densities remained within normal limits with
the exception of six biopsies at random times that showed a supernorm
al number of epidermal Langerhans cells. HIV-infected Langerhans cells
were first detected at about 2 y post-infection and comprised about o
ne-third of the Langerhans cell population, At subsequent times, HIV p
24-stained Langerhans cells were identified in most biopsies and typic
ally constituted about one third to one half of the total Langerhans c
ell population, The findings show that HIV-bearing Langerhans cells co
nstitute a significant proportion of the epidermal Langerhans cell pop
ulation over long periods of asymptomatic disease but are unevenly dis
tributed throughout the skin. Normal population densities of epidermal
Langerhans cells are maintained for years, although transient increas
es may occur randomly.