Biochemical characterization of a differentiation antigen shared by human epidermal langerhans cells and cortical thymocytes.

Previous immunofluorescent studies have shown that differentiation antigens recognized by the monoclonal antibody (OKT6) are present on the external membranes of human epidermal Langerhans cells, cortical thymocytes and some cultured T cell lines. In the present investigation, the biochemical characteristics of the OKT6 recognized antigens derived from these three sources were compared. Following immunoprecipitation with OKT6, a single band with an approximate molecular weight of 52,000 daltons was identified by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (under both reducing and nonreducing conditions) in the detergent lysate of radioiodinated normal epidermal cells. A molecule with the same apparent molecular weight was immunoprecipitated from thymocytes and cultured MOLT-3 (T cell-acute lymphoblastic leukemia) cells. However, a low molecular weight protein of approximately 10,000 daltons was coprecipitated from these MOLT-3 cells. No electrophoretically identifiable antigens were precipitated from peripheral lymphocytes or monocytes with OKT6. These observations further distinguish Langerhans cells from classical monocytes, indicate that these cells express a membrane antigen otherwise characteristic of cortical thymocytes, and suggest the potential usefulness of the monoclonal antibody, OKT6, in further investigations of the functions and ontogeny of Langerhans cells.