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The development of monoclonal antibodies which recognize antigenic determinants on lymphoid cells has resulted in the immunologic analysis of a wide variety of diseases where disturbance of the immune system is believed to be important in pathogenesis. These reagents may be used to scrutinize cell suspensions, like blood and lymphoid cells in tissues. The diseases to be discussed in this review are lupus erythematosus, leprosy, sarcoidosis, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, and parapsoriasis. The specificity of the monoclonal antibodies used is shown in tabulated form.

Tissues from atrophic large plaque parapsoriasis were examined using the indirect immunoperoxidase technique with a monoclonal T cell antibody as primary antibody, and affinity isolated peroxidase conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG as second stage antibody. The "T" cell nature of the dermal infiltrate and of single exocytic epidermal lymphocytes was demonstrated. The results obtained suggest that the method utilized will be useful for the demonstration of lymphoid cell subpopulations in a variety of cutaneous disorders in which a lymphocytic infiltrate forms a significant component of the histopathology observed. This technique also has the potential of providing information on the topographic localization and differentiation of lymphocytes within the various levels of the skin. Certain technical manipulations which may result in an improvement in the quality of results obtained are also discussed.

This report describes the in situ demonstration of "T" lymphocytes and "T" lymphocyte subsets in tissue sections using a case of lichen planus as a model. The technique utilized is the indirect immunoperoxidase method with monoclonal antibodies to "T" cells and "T" cell subsets. In the case examined a predominance of helper "T" cells was found. The potential application of this method in the immunopathology of skin and internal organs is discussed.