Korean J Dermatol.  2010 Apr;48(4):278-282.

Angiogenesis according to Clinical Forms in Leprosy

• Kim BS
• Park SD
• Kim JP

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Leprosy is a chronic granulomatous infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It has recently been reported that various clinical manifestations and treatments of leprosy are associated with increased angiogenesis. However, there are few reports on this topic.
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to examine the differences in angiogenesis according to clinical forms of leprosy.
METHODS
Thirty-three cutaneous lesions that represented the clinical spectrum of leprosy and 7 normal skins were selected for this study. Clinical forms of leprosy included in this study were 7 cases of tuberculoid (TT), 8 cases of borderline tuberculoid (BT), 8 cases of borderline lepromatous (BL), and 10 cases of lepromatous (LL) leprosy. A total of 40 sections of formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded tissues were investigated for Factor VIII-related antigen (FVIIIRA) expression using immunohistochemical staining. The number of FVIIIRA positive blood vessels in hot spot at a power of x40 was observed by 2 independent dermatologists.
RESULTS
The number of vessels ranged from 4 to 12 (mean 8.43+/-2.64) in the normal cutaneous tissues, 23 to 38 (mean 28.86+/-5.46) in the TT, 46 to 71 (mean 56.50+/-8.68) in the BT, 49 to 77 (mean 64.75+/-9.82) in the BL, and 74 to 159 (mean 104.40+/-27.71) in the LL. The mean numbers of vessels in the BT, BL, and LL leprosy lesions were significantly higher than the mean number in the normal cutaneous tissues. Also, an overall increase was observed in the mean number of vessels from TT through BT, BL to LL leprosy lesions.
CONCLUSION
We suggest that increased angiogenesis is associated with pathogenesis in leprosy. This study should prove helpful to future research into leprosy treatment.

Keyword

Angiogenesis; Factor VIII-related antigen; Leprosy