Flow cytometric analysis of cytokine receptors on human Langerhans' cells. Changes observed after short-term culture.

It is well established that granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interleukin (IL)-1 and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) are involved in Langerhans' cell (LC) development and dendritic cell traffic. However, little is known about the pattern of cytokine receptors on human LC and their modulation during different stages of maturation. The expression of cytokine receptors was studied by flow cytometry on both freshly isolated LC (fLC) and 72-hr cultured LC (cLC). Epidermal cell suspensions enriched in LC were obtained after skin trypsinization and Ficoll-Hypaque gradient. LC were identified by their CD1a positivity. Although the majority of fLC were positive for the alpha chain of GM-CSF receptor (GM-CSFR), the beta chain of GM-CSFR was detected only on 15% of CD1a+ cells. fLC were also positive for IL-1 receptor (IL-1R) type 1, IL-1R type 2, 75,000 molecular weight TNF receptor (TNFR) and interferon-gamma receptor (IFN-gamma R). IL-6R and its transducing signal gp130 were present in a subset of fLC. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor receptor (G-CSFR), macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor (M-CSFR), the alpha and beta chain of IL-2R, IL-4R, IL-7R, IL-8R and 55,000 molecular weight TNFR were not detected on fLC. After culture, LC up-regulated the expression of both the alpha and beta chains of GM-CSFR, IL-1R type 2, alpha and beta chains of IL-2R, IL-6R and gp130. In contrast, IL-1R type 1 and 75,000 molecular weight TNFR were down-modulated and the expression of IFN-gamma R was not affected by culture. These results suggest that LC undergo changes in the cytokine receptor repertory during in vitro maturation.