Milestones in the Research on Skin Epidermal Langerhans/Dendritic Cells (LCs/DCs) from the Discovery of Paul Langerhans 1868–1989

Almost 100 years elapsed after the discovery of dendritic cells in the human skin epithelium by Paul Langerhans in 1868 until the initiation of research on those cells was reinitiated. The present paper provides the milestones in the research on Langerhans/dendritic cells (LCs/DCs) between 1960 and 1989. This historical review will explain how researchers gradually discovered the role of the bone marrow-derived dendritic cells in the immune response. The paper is an appendix to the manuscript entitled: “Immunological and regulatory functions of uninfected and infected immature and mature subtypes of dendritic cells” (Virus Genes 26: 119–130, 2003).