[Expression of macrophage markers in childhood and adult Langerhans histiocytosis (LCH)].

In the diagnosis of the Langerhans cell histiocytosis several monocyte and macrophag markers have been tested in the recent years. We compared the expression of macrophage and lymphoid markers in childhood and adult type Langerhans cell histiocytosis. Ten childhood and 11 adult cases were tested using paraffin sections of biopsy samples. We have examined 6 markers: the S-100, Lysozyme, CD68 macrophag and the CD1a, CD4, HLA-DR lymphoid markers. We have found that the CD68 marker was more frequently positive than the other examined macrophag markers, and proved to be almost as reliable as the recently discovered CD1a. The most interesting result was that the expression of the markers was different in the childhood and adult type of the disease. On the basis of our experience the possibility arise that the phenotype of the childhood and adult type of the Langerhans cell histiocytosis is different.