title: Histopathology of mast cells and cytokines during healing of human mucosal leishmaniasis.
abstract: Mast cells (MCs) are associated with chronic inflammatory diseases. However, there is no study evaluating the importance of MCs in the mucosal leishmaniasis (ML). The aim of this study was to quantify the most important cytokines associated with mucosal leishmaniasis, before and after disease treatment, correlating with the healing. A cohort of 12 patients with ML was evaluated, and biopsies were taken before and after the treatment. A quantitative estimation of MCs and some cytokines was analysed by density of the labelled cells through immunohistochemistry. The MCs count in the tissue from patients with ML before treatment showed a mean of 29.3 +/- 37.9 cells/mm(2). The MCs count in patients with ML after healing decreased to 14.8 +/- 23.9 cells/mm(2). There was an inverse relation of MCs with IFN-gamma and IL-4 expression (r2 = 29.4 and r2 = 22.3 with P < 0.05). The expression of IL-10 and TNF-alpha was not related with MCs count. MCs decrease after treatment associated with decrease of IL-4 and IFN-gamma. The explanations of cytokine correlation are discussed in the article.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Sao Paulo, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Sao Paulo, Brazil. valdirsa@netpoint.com.br
authors.forename: V S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Amato
authors.forename: F F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Tuon
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Nicodemo
authors.forename: M I S
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Duarte
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007896:Leishmaniasis / Q000473:pathology*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines