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Query: UMLS:C0019621 (Langerhans cell histiocytosis)
 3,250 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

It has been suggested that a switch in chemokine receptor expression underlies Langerhans cell migration from skin to lymphoid tissue. Activated cells are thought to down-regulate CCR6, whose ligand macrophage inflammatory protein-3 alpha (MIP-3 alpha)/CCL20 is expressed in skin, and up-regulate CCR7, whose ligands are in lymphoid tissues. In Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), pathologic Langerhans cells (LCs) accumulate in several tissues, including skin, bone, and lymphoid organs. We have examined 24 LCH cases and find that pathologic LCs expressed CCR6 and CCR7 coincidentally in all cases. Furthermore, MIP-3 alpha/CCL20 is expressed by keratinocytes in involved skin and by macrophages and osteoblasts in involved bone. Expression of CCR6 by pathologic LCs may contribute to their accumulation in nonlymphoid organs such as skin and bone, whereas CCR7 expression may direct them to lymphoid tissue. Histiocytes in Rosai-Dorfman disease and hemophagocytic syndrome also coexpressed CCR6 and CCR7, suggesting that this may be a general attribute of abnormal histiocytes.
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PMID:Coincident expression of the chemokine receptors CCR6 and CCR7 by pathologic Langerhans cells in Langerhans cell histiocytosis. 1264 42

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is characterized by a clonal proliferation and retention of cells with a Langerhans cell (LC)-like phenotype at various sites within the body. The present study set out to elucidate whether aberrant expression of chemokine receptors or dysregulation of chemokine production in LCH lesions could explain abnormal retention of these cells. Immunohistochemical analysis on 13 LCH biopsies of bone, skin, and lymph node all expressed the immature dendritic cell (DC) marker CCR6 on the lesional LCs and absence of the mature DC marker CCR7. Furthermore, regardless of the tissue site, LCH lesions markedly overexpressed CCL20/MIP-3alpha, the ligand for CCR6. The lesional LCs appeared to be the source of this CCL20/MIP-3alpha production as well as other inflammatory chemokines such as CCL5/RANTES and CXCL11/I-TAC. These may explain the recruitment of eosinophils and CD4+CD45RO+ T cells commonly found in LCH lesions. The findings of this study emphasize that, despite abundant TNF-alpha, lesional LCs remain in an immature state and are induced to produce chemokines, which via autocrine and paracrine mechanisms cause not only the retention of the lesional LCs but also the recruitment and retention of other lesional cells. We postulate that the lesional LCs themselves control the persistence and progression of LCH.
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PMID:Aberrant chemokine receptor expression and chemokine production by Langerhans cells underlies the pathogenesis of Langerhans cell histiocytosis. 1274 70