The effect of cigarette smoking on cervical langerhans cells and T and B lymphocytes in normal uterine cervix epithelium.

The objective of our study was to evaluate the effect of smoking on intraepithelial Langerhans cells and T and B lymphocytes in normal cervical epithelium. A total of 47 women who underwent hysterectomies because of uterine leiomyomata were investigated. Thirty-two individuals were nonsmokers and 15 were current smokers. A segment of tissue was taken from the cervix after the removal of the uterus and was formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded for histologic analysis. The identification of the Langerhans cells and T and B lymphocytes was carried out by immunohistochemical analysis. The number of intraepithelial Langerhans cells was expressed by the amount of cells per square millimeter of epithelium. For T and B lymphocytes, a score expressed the cell count. The comparison of the number of intraepithelial Langerhans cells between smoking and nonsmoking women showed a significant difference (P=0.045), but it did not occur in relation to the number of T and B cells between the 2 groups. There was also no significant difference in relation to the number of cigarettes smoked per day, time of consumption, and total amount of cigarettes smoked throughout the lifetime. It was shown that smoking reduces the number of intraepithelial Langerhans cells in a normal cervix but does not influence the number of T and B lymphocytes.

Evaluation of density of Langerhans cells in human cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the number of Langerhans cells in areas of CIN 3 and in areas without histopathological alteration adjacent to CIN 3 with those found in histologically normal control cases. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Specimens were obtained from 46 normal cervixes from women undergoing hysterectomies due to uterine leiomyomata and 71 from conization specimens for CIN 3. The identification of the Langerhans cells was performed by immunohistochemical analysis, using antibodies to S-100 protein. The number of intraepithelial Langerhans cells was counted at a 400x magnification under light microscope and a 10 field count was performed in areas of epithelium of the normal cervix (group A), areas of CIN 3 in the conization specimens (group B), and areas of epithelium without histopathologic alteration adjacent to CIN 3 (group C). Results were expressed as number of cells per square millimeter of epithelium. RESULTS: Comparing groups A and B, we observed that the number of Langerhans cells was significantly higher in the latter group; between groups A and C, the number of cells was significantly lower in the second group. The number of Langerhans cells was also compared between groups B and C and it was significantly lower in the latter, independent of smoking habits. CONCLUSIONS: We theorize that the increase in the population of Langerhans cells in areas of CIN 3 could be explained by migration of these cells from adjacent areas without histopathologic alterations in order to act in the restraint of the development of neoplasia; cigarette smoking did not influence this migration.

Langerhans cells in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia related to smoking habits.

OBJECTIVE: Compare the numerical densities of intraepithelial Langerhans cells of uterine cervix of women affected by cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN 3) with their smoking habits. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 71 conization specimens of women affected by CIN 3 were separated in 3 groups according to their smoking habits (smokers, nonsmokers, and former smokers). The identification of the Langerhans cells was performed by immunohistochemical analysis using antibodies to S100 protein. The number of intraepithelial Langerhans cells was counted at x400 magnification under a light microscope, and a 10-field count was performed in areas of CIN 3 of each section. Results were expressed as number of cells per square millimeter of epithelium. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the number of Langerhans cells per square millimeter of epithelium in areas affected by CIN 3 among the 3 groups (p = .5). There was also no significant difference in the number of cigarettes smoked per day (p = .09), duration of consumption (p = .34), total amount of cigarettes smoked during the whole life (p = .18), and duration of abstention (p = .2). CONCLUSIONS: It was not shown that smoking reduces the number of intraepithelial Langerhans cells in the cervix of women affected by CIN 3.