Pancreatic islets Pancreatic islets The pancreatic islets or islets of Langerhans are the regions of the pancreas that contain its endocrine (hormone-producing) cells, discovered in 1869 by German pathological anatomist Paul Langerhans. The pancreatic islets constitute 1 to 2% of the pancreas volume and receive 10–15% of its blood flow. The pancreatic islets are arranged in density routes throughout the human pancreas, and are important in the metabolism of glucose. There are about 3 million islets distributed in the form of "density routes" throughout the pancreas of a healthy adult human, each of which measures an average of about 0.1 mm (109
Langerhans cell defense mechanism, destroying incoming viruses." High-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV) are sexually transmitted viruses causally associated with several cancers including cervical, vaginal, anal, and head and neck cancers that cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Over half of all cervical cancer cases are associated with HPV16, the most common of the cancer-causing high-risk genotypes. During its natural life cycle, HPV16 infects the basal cells of the epithelium and interacts with Langerhans cells within the epithelial layer, which are responsible for initiating immune responses against epithelial invading pathogens. However, HPV does not activate Langerhans cells "in vitro", and this may represent a