ABSTRACT
Normal human adult skin contains an impressive confederacy of cell types that are indigenous to the epidermis and dermis. Headington correctly pointed out that conventional descriptions of the dermis in which elongate or spindle-shaped cells were stated dogmatically to be fibroblasts, whose prime function was to produce collagen and elastic tissue, was incorrect. As a dermatopathologist, one can actually begin to discern the nonrandom microscopic spatial distribution of mononuclear cells which give rise to the distinctive clinical appearance of inflammatory, autoimmune, and neoplastic skin lesions, into specific, broadly conceived, functional patterns that bridge epidermal-dermal zones. Since Headington first coined the term “dermal dendrocyte” in 1986, the angiocentric and interstitial cells have moved from complete obscurity to occupy the center stage of numerous investigative dermatologists. As people move towards the beginning of the 21st century, there can be little doubt that future probing of the immunobiology of dermis will highlight various dermal dendrocyte subsets.
