[Human allogeneic cultured epidermis: medico-legal considerations]

The possibility of cultivating in vitro human kerathinocytes has opened new prospectives in the surgical treatment of major burns and, generally, in patients with extensive skin loss (degloving, etc.). Epidermidal sheets, obtained in vitro, have been used initially, successfully, as autografts. Later, their peculiar immunological characteristic (absence of Langerhans cells expressing class II MHC antigens and inability of evocating omograft rejection) has allowed it's use as allograft without the need of resorting to treatment with immunosuppressive drugs. Medico-legal problems raised by the use of human epidermys cultivated as allograft are described hereafter.