Langerhans cells in epithelial skin tumors. A quantitative immunohistological and morphometric investigation.

In the present study we investigated whether there is a correlation between Langerhans cell density, peritumoral infiltrate or intraepithelial T-lymphocyte density within 17 epithelial skin tumors using immunohistologic and morphometric methods. We found a significant difference between seborrheic keratosis, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma. No correlation was found between the Langerhans cell density and the number of intraepithelial T lymphocytes or between Langerhans cell density and the peritumoral infiltrate. A significant (inverse) correlation was found between mean nuclear area of the epithelial tissue and the number of Langerhans cells. These data might indicate that the number of Langerhans cells does not influence the extent of the anti-tumoral immune response, but that there is an association between the differentiation state of the epithelium and Langerhans cell density.