Upon antigen contact, epidermal Langerhans cells (LC) and dendritic cells (DC) leave peripheral organs and home to lymph nodes via the afferent lymphatic vessels and then assemble in the paracortical T cell zone and present antigen to T lymphocytes. Since splice variants of CD44 promote metastasis of certain tumors to lymph nodes, we explored the expression of CD44 proteins on migrating LC and DC. We show that upon antigen contact, LC and DC upregulate pan CD44 epitopes and epitopes encoded by variant exons v4, v5, v6, and v9. Antibodies against CD44 epitopes inhibit the emigration of LC from the epidermis, prevent binding of activated LC and DC to the T cell zones of lymph nodes, and severely inhibit their capacity to induce a delayed type hypersensitivity reaction to a skin hapten in vivo. Our results demonstrate that CD44 splice variant expression is obligatory for the migration and function of LC and DC.
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2 June 1997
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June 02 1997
An Essential Role for CD44 Variant Isoforms in Epidermal Langerhans Cell and Blood Dendritic Cell Function
Johannes M. Weiss,
Johannes M. Weiss
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
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Jonathan Sleeman,
Jonathan Sleeman
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
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Andreas C. Renkl,
Andreas C. Renkl
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
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Henning Dittmar,
Henning Dittmar
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
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Christian C. Termeer,
Christian C. Termeer
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
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Sabine Taxis,
Sabine Taxis
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
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Norma Howells,
Norma Howells
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
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Martin Hofmann,
Martin Hofmann
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
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Gabriele Köhler,
Gabriele Köhler
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
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Erwin Schöpf,
Erwin Schöpf
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
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Helmut Ponta,
Helmut Ponta
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
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Peter Herrlich,
Peter Herrlich
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
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Jan C. Simon
Jan C. Simon
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
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Johannes M. Weiss
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Jonathan Sleeman
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Andreas C. Renkl
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Henning Dittmar
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Christian C. Termeer
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Sabine Taxis
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Norma Howells
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Martin Hofmann
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Gabriele Köhler
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Erwin Schöpf
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Helmut Ponta
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Peter Herrlich
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Jan C. Simon
*Department of Dermatology, ‡Department of Pathology, Freiburg University, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany; and §Institute of Genetics, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany
Address all correspondence to Johannes M. Weiss, Department of Dermatology, University of Freiburg, Hauptstrasse 7, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany. Tel.: 49 761-270-6831. Fax: 49 761-270-6829.
Received:
January 07 1997
Revision Received:
March 11 1997
Online ISSN: 1540-8140
Print ISSN: 0021-9525
1997
J Cell Biol (1997) 137 (5): 1137–1147.
Article history
Received:
January 07 1997
Revision Received:
March 11 1997
Citation
Johannes M. Weiss, Jonathan Sleeman, Andreas C. Renkl, Henning Dittmar, Christian C. Termeer, Sabine Taxis, Norma Howells, Martin Hofmann, Gabriele Köhler, Erwin Schöpf, Helmut Ponta, Peter Herrlich, Jan C. Simon; An Essential Role for CD44 Variant Isoforms in Epidermal Langerhans Cell and Blood Dendritic Cell Function. J Cell Biol 2 June 1997; 137 (5): 1137–1147. doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.137.5.1137
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