Expressão da anexina A1 e da interleucina-10 na pele de pacientes com hanseníase

Abstract

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae), a intracellular obligate parasite that affects mainly macrophages and Schwann cells. This study’s goal was to identify monocytic cells present in the skin of leprosy patients with tuberculoid- tuberculoid clinical forms (TT), tuberculoid-borderline (TB), borderline-borderline (BB), borderline-lepromatous (BV) and lepromatous (LL); and evaluating the expression of annexin-A1 (ANXA1), and anti-inflammatory mediators interleukin-10 (IL-10), evaluating its potential role in pathogenesis disease. After the clinical diagnosis, the patients underwent biopsy for histopathological analysis. Histopathological cuts were submitted to immunofluorescence staining for detection of mediators ANXA1 and IL-10. The results showed a difference in the of leukocytes’s profile in patients with different clinical forms of leprosy, that is essential to allow the differential production of regulatory mediators of the infectious process. The data showed that the histiocytes, CD4 + and CD8 + T cells of patients with clinical forms BV and VV had a higher expression of ANXA1 protein as well as high levels of IL-10. Furthermore, it can be seen a positive correlation in expression of ANXA1 and IL-10 in BB, BV and VV patients, possibly indicating that this protein may contribute to the regulation of this cytokine production during the infectious process induced by M. leprae. In conclusion, ANXA1 protein was characterized as a possible regulator of the infectious process induced by M. leprae, indicating that the presence of this protein could be reducing the pro-inflammatory potential in BB, BV and VV patients taking the spread of the bacterium M. leprae. Otherwise, patients in TT and BT, ANXA1 protein comes in lower levels, which could contribute to more effective activation of pro-inflammatory action of the immune system, favoring the elimination of bacterias.