Effects of ultraviolet radiation on human epidermal cell alloantigen presentation: initial depression of Langerhans cell-dependent function is followed by the appearance of T6- Dr+ cells that enhance epidermal alloantigen presentation.

The effects of ultraviolet radiation (UV) on the immune parameters of human epidermis were studied. We determined the effects of both in vitro and in vivo UV on human epidermal cell surface markers and on epidermal immune function in the allogeneic epidermal cell-lymphocyte reaction (ELR). Epidermal cells obtained immediately after in vitro and in vivo UV exposure exhibited a dose-dependent decrease in alloantigen-presenting function in the ELR. This was not the result of a decrease in the number of T6+ Dr+ Langerhans cells but was due to their being less efficient at alloantigen presentation than equivalent numbers of Langerhans cells from unirradiated skin. The reduced stimulation in the ELR immediately after UV was not reversible by the addition of exogenous IL 1 or indomethacin and thus appeared to be due to a direct effect of UV on the alloantigen-presenting function of Langerhans cells. In contrast to this suppression of the epidermal immune function when epidermal cells were obtained immediately after UV, epidermal cells harvested 24 hr or later after in vivo UV exhibited a dose-dependent enhancement of allostimulatory capacity in the ELR that peaked 3 days after UV. The time course of the enhancement of allostimulation in the ELR after in vivo UV coincided with a decrease in the percentage of Langerhans cells and the appearance within the epidermis of T6- Dr+ cells, which are derived from the bone marrow, as evidenced by their expression of the bone marrow derivation markers HLe 1 and T200. Removal of Dr+ cells but not of T6+ cells from epidermal cell suspensions harvested 3 days after in vivo UV abrogated allostimulation in the ELR, demonstrating that the T6- Dr+ cells were responsible for the observed UV-induced enhancement of alloantigen presentation. Taken together, the results indicate that the timing and dosage of UV exposure are critical factors determining whether suppression or enhancement of epidermal immune function follows UV.