cells Article The Essential Role of anxA2 in Langerhans Cell Birbeck Granules Formation Shantae M. Thornton 1, Varsha D. Samararatne 1, Joseph G. Skeate 1 , Christopher Buser 2, Kim P. Lühen 3, Julia R. Taylor 1, Diane M. Da Silva 3,4 and W. Martin Kast 1,3,4,* 1 Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA;
[email protected] (S.M.T.);
[email protected] (V.D.S.);
[email protected] (J.G.S.);
[email protected] (J.R.T.) 2 Oak Crest Institute of Science, Monrovia, CA 91016, USA;
[email protected] 3 Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA;
[email protected] (K.P.L.);
[email protected] (D.M.D.S.) 4 Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-323-442-3870 Received: 5 March 2020; Accepted: 12 April 2020; Published: 15 April 2020 Abstract: Langerhans cells (LC) are the resident antigen presenting cells of the mucosal epithelium and play an essential role in initiating immune responses. LC are the only cells in the body to contain Birbeck granules (BG), which are unique cytoplasmic organelles comprised of c-type lectin langerin. Studies of BG have historically focused on morphological characterizations, but BG have also been implicated in viral antigen processing which suggests that they can serve a function in antiviral immunity. This study focused on investigating proteins that could be involved in BG formation to further characterize their structure using transmission electron microscopy (TEM).