Leprosy triggers a complex relationship between the pathogen and host immune response. Endothelium plays an important role in this immune response by directly influencing cell migration to infected tissues. The objective of this work is to investigate the possible role of endothelium in M. leprae infection, correlating the characteristics of endothelial markers with the expression pattern of cytokines. Thirty-six skin biopsy samples were cut into 5-mu m thick sections and stained with hematoxylin-eosin and Ziehl-Neelsen for morphological analysis and then submitted to immunohistochemical analysis using monoclonal antibodies against ICAM-1, ICAM-2, VCAM-1, and VLA-4. Immunostaining for ICAM-1 showed a significantly larger number of stained endothelial cells in the tuberculoid leprosy (9.92 +/- 1.11 cells/mm(2)) when compared to lepromatous samples (5.87 +/- 1.01 cells/mm(2)) and ICAM-2 revealed no significant difference in the number of endothelial cells expressing this marker between the tuberculoid (13.21 +/- 1.27 cells/mm(2)) and lepromatous leprosy (14.3 +/- 1.02 cells/mm(2)). VCAM-1-immunostained showed 18.28 1.46/mm(2) cells in tuberculoid leprosy and 10.67 +/- 1.25 cells/mm(2) in the lepromatous leprosy. VLA-4 exhibited 22.46 +/- 1.38 cells/mm(2) in the tuberculoid leprosy 16.04 +/- 1.56 cells/mm(2) in the lepromatous leprosy. Samples with characteristics of the tuberculoid leprosy exhibited a larger number of cells stained with ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and VLA-4, demonstrating the importance of these molecules in the migration and selection of cells that reach the inflamed tissue. (C)2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.