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Langerhans cells in a bronchiolar-alveolar tumour of lung

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Summary

Large numbers of dendritic cells similar in structure to Langerhans cells of normal epidermis and other epithelia were observed within nodules of a tumour identified as a bronchiolar-alveolar tumour of primary alveolar origin.

Though Langerhans cells have never yet been seen in normal lung, it is argued that the present observations provide circumstantial evidence for their probable presence, perhaps in very small numbers, in this situation. Such a suggestion would also render more explicable the characteristic feature of pulmonary lesions of Histiocytosis-X.

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The authors wish to thank Mme A.-M. Blond for her technical help and Drs A. A. Liebow, W. Bernhard and J. M. Verley for their advice in the preparation of the manuscript.

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Basset, F., Soler, P., Wyllie, L. et al. Langerhans cells in a bronchiolar-alveolar tumour of lung. Virchows Arch. A Path. Anat. and Histol. 362, 315–330 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00427080

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