T. Senturk et al., ADHESION MOLECULE EXPRESSION IN ERYTHEMA NODOSUM-LIKE LESIONS IN BEHCETS-DISEASE - A HISTOPATHOLOGICAL AND IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY, Rheumatology international, 18(2), 1998, pp. 51-57
Behcet's (BD) is a systemic inflammatory disease with histological evi
dence for vasculitis. Leucocyte-leucocyte and leucocyte-endothelial ce
ll interactions are critical in inflammatory reactions that are influe
nced by the expression, activation and shedding of adhesion molecules.
We investigated the expression of some adhesion molecules (E- and L-s
electin, VLA-4, ICAM-1, PECAM-1, VCAM-1 and CD18 and CD11c chains of b
eta-2 integrins) on endothelial and inflammatory cells by immunohistoc
hemistry on cryostat sections of erythema nodosum lesions taken from 1
5 patients with BD and 12 patients with erythema nodosum of unknown ca
use. Hematoxylin-eosin stained sections of all specimens were also ass
essed. The major histopathological findings were perivascular mononucl
ear cell infiltration and secondary vasculitic changes with no differe
nce between the two groups (P>0.05). However, the frequency of thrombo
phlebitis was higher in BD (P<0.001). Endothelial and inflammatory cel
l adhesion molecule expression did not show any significant difference
between groups (P>0.05). Although VCAM-1 expression and intensity on
endothelial cells of BD patients seemed to be lower, this did not reac
h statistical significance (P=0.056), We concluded that subcutaneous t
hrombophlebitis is an important feature of erythema nodosum like lesio
ns in BD, which is almost impossible to understand by physical examina
tion alone. Colchicine, which is known to have some influence on adhes
ion molecules, might have affected our results, as these showed no sig
nificant difference regarding adhesion molecules between the two group
s.