Jorge Lobo's disease is a rare mycosis of chronic inflammation that causes injury to the skin without visceral dissemination. This disease is caused by the fungus Lacazia loboi. Its occurrence is prevalent in regions of hot and humid, with most cases reported in the Brazilian Amazon region. The histopathological findings showed lots of fungi at the site of injury, with a rich macrophages infiltrate with giant cells and limited presence of lymphocytes. The migration of leukocytes to the inflammatory site induced Lacazia loboi is supposedly co-ordinated by cytokines and chemokines that aided by blood and lymph vessels influence cell migration inducing the expression of adhesion molecules. In this paper we investigate possible microvascular changes associated with infection by Lacazia loboi at the site of injury that may interfere with the clinical evolution of patients. Therefore, we assessed the density of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels, as well as expression of molecules ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin. Our results showed that in Jorge Lobo's disease, there is a reduced amount of blood and lymph vessels, when compared to control skin. There was a larger number of vessels expressing ICAM-1, being also higher number of vessels expressing the molecule VCAM-1, although in much less prominent ICAM-1. There were no differences in the expression of E-selectin. Together the results point to a change in the local microvasculature which may interfere with the development of an effective cellular immune response and justify the presence of the fungus confined to the injury site.
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