Intermediate filaments of the vimentin and prekeratin type in human epidermis.

Monospecific antibodies to intermediate filaments of mesenchymally derived vimentin, applied to frozen sections of human skin, specifically stained dendritic basal and suprabasal cells. Cellular morphology, distribution, reaction pattern with anti-HLA-DR in serial sections, and OKT6 in double-staining procedures identified these cells as melanocytes and Langerhans cells. As shown previously in animals keratinocytes stained with antiprekeratin exclusively. Thus, vimentin is an intracellular marker for Langerhans cells and melanocytes, differentiating them from keratinocytes.