Anti-D47: a monoclonal antibody reacting with the secretory cells of human eccrine sweat glands.

Anti-D47 is a monoclonal antibody reacting with a surface antigen of human cortical thymocytes (different from the T6 antigen). It was prepared by immunization of mice with human thymocytes. The known cross-reactivity of monoclonal antibodies prepared against thymic cells with skin components prompted us to test anti-D47 on human skin as well as animal tissues. No labelling was observed on animal tissues. On human skin, anti-D47 was found to react with the secretory portion of eccrine sweat glands (ESG), i.e. with a cytoplasmic antigen of the secretory cells lining the deep portion of ESG glomeruli. No labelling was observed on apocrine sweat glands or on the excretory portion of ESG. Anti-D47 was also tested on histologically proven extramammary (vulvar) Paget's disease and basal cell epitheliomas: no staining of the neoplastic cells was observed. Anti-D47 appears to be an immunological marker of the secretory cells of human ESG and a new tool for the investigation of human sweat gland pathology.