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Updated: Apr 17, 2026

Phenotypic and Functional Analysis of Activated Regulatory T Cells Isolated from Chronic Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus-infected Mice
Published on: June 22, 2016
T regulatory cells (TREG)(TCD4+CD25+FOXP3+) distribution in the different clinical forms of leprosy and reactional
José Napoleão Tavares Parente1, Carolina Talhari2, Antônio Pedro Mendes Schettini3
1Centro Universitário Christus, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.
Background:
Leprosy is characterized histologically by a spectrum of different granulomatous skin lesions, reflecting patients' immune responses to Mycobacterium leprae. Although CD4+CD25+ FoxP3+ T regulatory cells are pivotal in the immuneregulation, presence, frequency, and distribution of Tregs in leprosy, its reactional states have been investigated in few studies.
Objectives:
This study aimed to verify the frequency and distribution of regulatory T cells in different clinical forms and reactional states of leprosy.
Methods:
We performed an immunohistochemical study on 96 leprosy cases [Indeterminate (I): 9 patients; tuberculoid tuberculoid: 13 patients; borderline tuberculoid: 26 patients; borderline borderline: 3 patients; borderline lepromatous: 8 patients; lepromatous lepromatous: 27 patients; reversal reaction: 8 patients; and erythema nodosum leprosum: 2 patients].
Results:
FoxP3-positive cells were present in 100% of the cases with an average density of 2.82% of the infiltrate. Their distribution was not related to granulomatous structures or special locations. There was a statistically significant increment of FoxP3 expression in patients with leprosy reversal reactions when compared with patients presenting with type I leprosy (P= 0.0228); borderline tuberculoid leprosy (P = 0.0351) and lepromatous leprosy (P = 0.0344).
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that Tregs play a relevant role in the etiopathogenesis of leprosy, mainly in type I leprosy reaction.
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