HLA-DR+/T6- Langerhans cells of the human cornea

Abstract

We have investigated normal human corneas for the presence of T6-marker on Langerhans cells. With the exception of one pair of newborn corneas and two pairs of very young infant corneas, all HLA-DR-positive cells in central and peripheral corneal epithelium were T6-negative by double-labeled immunofluorescence. In contrast, epidermal sheets from normal human eyelid skin displayed positive staining for T6 on most of the HLA-DR-positive Langerhans cells. Since T6 antigen is considered to be a specific Langerhans cell differentiation marker, we interpret this finding to indicate a nonactivated or undifferentiated state of Langerhans cells in normal human corneas.