Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is characterized by a steady progression of skin inflammation with typical clinical symptoms such as oedema with telangiectases, stasis dermatitis, hyperpigmentation, lipodermatosclerosis and finally venous ulceration [1]. In order to improve the understanding of the pathophysiological processes which occur in CVI, one possible approach is to investigate the morphological and transcriptional alterations in the skin at progressing stages of the disease. The aim of this chapter is to summarize recent research into the expression of cytokeratins (CK), adhesion molecules, growth factors and growth factor receptors, glycoproteins of the extracellular matrix (ECM), metalloproteinases and their inhibitors in the different stages of CVI by means of immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) (table 1).
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