02338nas a2200241   4500000000100000008004100001653001600042653001500058653001200073653002300085100001200108700001500120700002500135700001300160700001700173700001200190700002500202700001300227700002300240245009100263520172800354022001402082       2017                            d10aEndothelium10aImmunology10aleprosy10aMolecular adhesion1 aSousa J1 aAarão TLS1 aRodrigues de Sousa J1 aHirai KE1 aMota Silva L1 aDias LB1 aOliveira Carneiro FR1 aFuzii HT1 aSimoes Quaresma JA00aEndothelium adhesion molecules ICAM-1, ICAM-2, VCAM-1 and VLA-4 expression in leprosy.3 a<p>Leprosy triggers a complex relationship between the pathogen and host immune response. Endothelium plays an important role in this immune response by directly influencing cell migration to infected tissues. The objective of this work is to investigate the possible role of endothelium in M. leprae infection, correlating the characteristics of endothelial markers with the expression pattern of cytokines. Thirty-six skin biopsy samples were cut into 5-μm thick sections and stained with hematoxylin-eosin and Ziehl-Neelsen for morphological analysis and then submitted to immunohistochemical analysis using monoclonal antibodies against ICAM-1, ICAM-2, VCAM-1, and VLA-4. Immunostaining for ICAM-1 showed a significantly larger number of stained endothelial cells in the tuberculoid leprosy (9.92&nbsp;±&nbsp;1.11&nbsp;cells/mm(2)) when compared to lepromatous samples (5.87&nbsp;±&nbsp;1.01&nbsp;cells/mm(2)) and ICAM-2 revealed no significant difference in the number of endothelial cells expressing this marker between the tuberculoid (13.21&nbsp;±&nbsp;1.27&nbsp;cells/mm(2)) and lepromatous leprosy (14.3&nbsp;±&nbsp;1.02&nbsp;cells/mm(2)). VCAM-1-immunostained showed 18.28&nbsp;±&nbsp;1.46/mm(2) cells in tuberculoid leprosy and 10.67&nbsp;±&nbsp;1.25&nbsp;cells/mm(2) in the lepromatous leprosy. VLA-4 exhibited 22.46&nbsp;±&nbsp;1.38&nbsp;cells/mm(2) in the tuberculoid leprosy 16.04&nbsp;±&nbsp;1.56&nbsp;cells/mm(2) in the lepromatous leprosy. Samples with characteristics of the tuberculoid leprosy exhibited a larger number of cells stained with ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and VLA-4, demonstrating the importance of these molecules in the migration and selection of cells that reach the inflamed tissue.</p>
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