Inadequate epidermal homing leads to tissue damage in human cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Abstract

Leishmaniasis is a model disease for the study of immunoregulatory mechanisms associated with host resistance and susceptibility: In this article, Felix Tapia and colleagues propose that defects in the signaling properties of the epidermis can result in the generation of either a chronic granulomatous response, which is unable to eliminate the parasite, or a proinflammatory mucocutaneous response and tissue damage.