Deficient antigen presentation by Langerhans cells from athymic (nu/nu) mice. Restoration with thymic transplantation or administration of cytokines.

Epidermal Langerhans cells (LC) are a unique subtype of I-A+ dendritic cells able to present Ag for CD4-dependent immune responses. To investigate whether cutaneous Ag presentation is regulated by thymic elements or soluble factors produced by thymus-derived cells, we compared LC function in athymic nude mice and euthymic normal controls. Examination of the ability of LC to present alloantigens to T cell-enriched responder populations, and insulin to an insulin-specific T cell hybridoma, demonstrated that this function is deficient in LC from inbred and outbred strains of congenitally athymic (nu/nu) mice compared with euthymic litter mates. Adoptive transfer of thymic tissue from euthymic to athymic mice reconstituted the ability of LC derived from athymic mice to present alloantigens. To investigate whether an altered local cytokine microenvironment was responsible for the diminished LC function in athymic mice, various cytokines were administered in vivo and in vitro before determination of alloantigen presentation by epidermal cells from athymic and euthymic mice. Continuous intraperitoneal infusion of granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) or TNF-alpha, but not IL-1 alpha or IL-2, restored alloantigen presenting ability in athymic LC. In vitro preincubation of LC in GM-CSF or TNF-alpha but not in other cytokines tested also reconstituted alloantigen presentation by LC from athymic mice in most, but not all, of the experiments performed. Furthermore, analysis of cytokine production by epidermal cells in athymic and euthymic mice revealed that epidermal cells from athymic mice produce less GM-CSF and more TNF-alpha, but normal amounts of various other cytokines. However, reconstitution of athymic mice with thymic tissue did not result in normalization of GM-CSF or TNF-alpha production by epidermal cells. These data suggest that LC Ag presenting ability is regulated by thymic factors and that adequate function of cutaneous APC in situ may require the continuous presence of sufficient amounts of cytokines including GM-CSF and TNF-alpha.