Reduced epidermal Langerhans cell densities in patients with pulmonary malignancies do not correlate with anergy or...

Epidermal Langerhans cell (ELC) densities are markedly reduced in a number of clinical situations including anergic sarcoidosis patients. To help determine whether this reduction is related to the anergic or nutritional status of the patient, we examined the non-sun-exposed epidermis of 23 hospitalized patients with various malignancies (MP), 10 hospitalized control (HC) patients without malignancy, and 24 biopsies from historical control (HIC) patients. There was no significant difference in the density of HLA-DR+ ELC among HC, HIC, or patients with nonpulmonary malignancy (primary or metastatic). Six patients with pulmonary malignancy had significantly fewer HLA-DR+ and OKT6+ epidermal cells. The reason ELC densities are reduced specifically in pulmonary malignancies remains under study.