The in situ inflammatory profile of lymphocutaneous and fixed forms of human sporotrichosis

The most common clinical presentations of sporotrichosis are the lymphocutaneous (LC) and fixed cutaneous (F) forms, but little is known about the immunopathologic differences between them. The aim of this study was to evaluate through immunohistochemistry the composition of the in situ inflammatory reaction so as to correlate the results with the clinical presentation of the disease. The following two groups of patients were involved in the studies, i.e., LC (n == 19) and F (n == 11) patients. Those with the LC form, in contrast to F patients, were found to have a larger number of lesions (P == 0.001), of longer duration (P == 0.026) and require a more extended course of treatment (P == 0.049). LC patients also presented a greater fungal burden (LC:0--6.5; F:0--1.5; P == 0.021), a higher percentage of neutrophils (median LC:24.7%; F:6.7%, P == 0.002), CD4<SU++</SU cells (median LC:40.9%; F:30.0%, P == 0.0024), CD22<SU++</SU cells (median LC:15.3%; F:2.9%, P == 0.048), and higher intensity of NOS2 expression (P == 0.009). Thus, our data identified differences in cell profile and inflammatory activity in lesions of LC and F forms of human sporotrichosis.