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A histopathological and immunohistochemical evaluation of the lesional and non-lesional skin in borderline leprosy: A study of 50 patients

Abstract

Leprosy is one of the oldest diseases known to man, yet not much is known about its pathogenesis and transmission, even in this post elimination era. Many groups have previously studied the histological involvement of skin that appears clinically normal across the leprosy spectrum. They found perivascular, periappendageal infiltrates and acid fast bacilli (AFB) in histopathological sections of apparently normal skin irrespective of the leprosy spectrum. The histological involvement of normal skin was much higher on the lepromatous end of the spectrum than on the tuberculoid end. Immunohistochemical studies done on lesional skin had revealed predominantly T cells of the CD4 subset and CD1a cells in tuberculoid lesions, whereas CD8þ cells predominate in lepromatous lesions. However, immunohistochemical studies of uninvolved skin are lacking within the scientific literature. Thus, this study was designed to simultaneously evaluate changes in involved and uninvolved skin in borderline leprosy patients by histopathology and immunohistochemistry (IHC).

More information

Type
Journal Article
Author
Zutso K
Sharma P
Bhardwaj M