These findings suggest that Foxp3<sup>+</sup> cells, IL-10 and IL-17 play important roles in the immunopathogenesis of CL and that these roles differ depending on the causal leishmania species and different body compartments.
In vitro stimulated ACL PBMCs produced lower levels of IFN-γ (p = 0.0002) and TNF (p <0.0001), and higher levels of IL-10 (p = 0.0006) and IL-17 (p = 0.0008) than CL PBMCs.
Here, we show that lymphocytes obtained from patients with mucosal leishmaniasis and cutaneous leishmaniasis produce higher levels of IL-17 than do lymphocytes obtained from uninfected control subjects (P<.01).