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Leishmania braziliensis is a parasite that can induce at least two clinical forms of leishmaniasis in humans: cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) and mucosal leishmaniasis (ML). In humans, the specific mechanisms that determine which form will develop following infection are not well established. In this study, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 17 CL and 9 ml patients were compared both ex vivo and after culture with soluble leishmania antigen (SLA). Patients with ML presented a higher frequency of activated T cells as measured by ex vivo frequencies of CD4⁺CD69⁺, CD4⁺CD28^–, CD4⁺CD62L^– and CD8⁺CD69⁺ than those with CL. Moreover, after stimulation with SLA, patients with ML presented a higher frequency of TNF‐α‐producing CD4⁺ and CD14⁺ cells than CL individuals. While CL patients displayed a positive correlation between the frequency of IL‐10 and TNF‐α‐producing monocytes, the ML …