Both epidermal dendritic cell populations, Langerhans' cells and Thy 1+ dendritic cells are simultaneously stained by an Lyt-1 monoclonal antibody.

Both Langerhans' cells (LC) and Thy 1+ dendritic epidermal cells (DEC) are bone marrow-derived epidermal cells that are thought to play an important role in immune responses. Despite their several similarities, the surface phenotypes of both cells appear to be almost mutually exclusive. We found that an anti-Lyt-1.2 monoclonal antibody that recognizes solely an epitope on certain T cells can crossreact with a shared epitope on both cell types. The morphological details of LCs and Thy 1+ DECs stained by the anti-Lyt-1.2 MAb was superior to those stained by either anti-I-A or anti-Thy-1 MAb. The availability of this MAb enables us to simultaneously view both cell populations in the same sections.