Distribution of adhesion receptors in recurrent oral ulcers.

When activated under physiologic or pathologic conditions leukocytes adhere to one another or to other cell types. Adhesion receptors mediate these interactions. In the study reported here, the distribution of the adhesion receptors LFA-1 (CD11a/CD18), ICAM-1 (CD54), CD2 and LFA-3 (CD58) in recurrent oral ulcers (ROU) were studied. Nine tissue specimens from five female patients (mean age 33 yr, age range 21-40 yr) with ROU were studied using the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC) method. The main mononuclear cell infiltrations were in lamina propria (LP) and the epithelium next to the basement membrane (BM), laterally to the ulcers. In this area, ICAM-1 was strongly expressed in capillaries and in postcapillary venules. LFA-1, LFA-3 and CD2 were expressed in 65 +/- 1.1%, 70 +/- 16% and 80 +/- 1%, respectively, of all mononuclear cells. The findings indicate that LFA-1/ICAM-1 and CD2/LFA-3 interactions may play roles in cell to cell adhesion events in ROU.