Vaginal adenosis is defined by the presence of metaplastic cervical or endometrial epithelium within the vaginal wall, thought to be derived from persistent Müllerian (synonymous with paramesonephric) epithelium islets in postembryonic life. Spontaneous vaginal adenosis appears to be a fairly common (present in about 10% of adult women) but mostly insignificant coincidental finding. In women prenatally exposed to diethylstilboestrol (DES), vaginal adenosis may arise in up to 90% and is associated with a high risk of vaginal carcinoma. Since the withdrawal of DES from the market, vaginal adenosis has virtually disappeared from the medical literature. A case of vaginal adenosis is presented in a middle-aged woman who had not been prenatally exposed to DES. The lesions differed from the spontaneous type by their sudden appearance, their extent and their pronounced subjective symptoms. It is speculated that protracted oral contraceptive intake may have played a causative role.

Fritsch M, Ivars F. gd T-Cell Precursor-Derived CD4 -CD8 -ab T Cells Retain gd Cell Function. Scand J Immunol 1998;48:8-14 We have previously shown that some of the DNab þ T cells arising in TcRa-chain transgenic mice are of gd T cell origin, based on phenotypic data and on their status of TcR gene rearrangements. In the present report we investigated the impact of ab TcR expression on the functional programme of the mature gd precursorderived DNab þ T cells. Our results demonstrate that both their proliferative capacity and their cytokine production profile are similar to that of gd T cells. Furthermore, both transgenic DNab þ T cells and DNgd þ T cells up-regulate CD8a expression after activation, but, in contrast to CD4 þ ab T cells, are unable to induce proliferation of naive B cells. Thus, our results suggest that the effector functions of mature T cells are determined independently of the TcR isotype, probably at an early stage of differentiation, and thereby have important implications for current models of T-cell lineage commitment.

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