Articles: carcinoma-immunology.
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Acta Derm Venereol Suppl (Stockh) · Jan 1993
Langerhans cells, immunomodulation and skin lesions. A quantitative, morphological and clinical study.
The epidermal Langerhans cell (LC) plays an important role in contact hypersensitivity reactions by presenting the antigens to T lymphocytes. LCs may also play a role in defence mechanisms against neo-antigens in skin tumours. Some studies have indicated that the LC population declines with age. ⋯ These alterations were documented in horizontal sheets as well as in vertical sections of the epidermis analysed by light microscopy and with confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The latter technique permits a quantitative and morphological analysis of LCs in the same tissue volume. In vertical sections, numerous LCs were observed in the dermis surrounding BCC nests.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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Acta Derm. Venereol. · Jan 1984
Loss of bullous pemphigoid antigen in peritumoral lacunas of basal cell carcinomas.
Peritumoral lacunas of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) were for a long time misinterpreted as fixation artifacts. However, recent studies showed that they might be considered as a dynamic process related to degenerescence for the palisade cells. We studied three antigens of the epidermal basement membrane zone--type IV collagen, laminin, and bullous pemphigoid antigen--by indirect immunofluorescence in six cases of basal cell carcinoma. ⋯ Bullous pemphigoid antigen showed either a linear continuous or discontinuous staining pattern along the basement membrane zone of the carcinomatous buds. At the site of a peritumoral lacuna bullous pemphigoid antigen abruptly disappeared. The loss of bullous pemphigoid antigen might be related to the lacuna formation.
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The basement membrane of basal cell carcinoma was characterized by indirect immunofluorescence using antibodies to laminin, type IV collagen, and bullous pemphigoid antigen, three distinct protein components of basement membrane. Aggregates of basal cell carcinoma in the dermis were surrounded by a continuous basement membrane containing laminin and type IV collagen; however, bullous pemphigoid antigen was either completely undetectable or faint and discontinuous rather than linear. ⋯ Basal cell carcinoma was the only tumor examined in which there was a specific antigenic defect in the basement membrane. This defect in bullous pemphigoid antigen may be due to abnormal synthesis by the tumor cells and could be related to the absence of differentiation of these cells.