Presence of Mycobacterium leprae-Reactive Lymphocytes in Lymph Nodes of Lepromatous Leprosy Patients

1988 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. D. DESAI ◽  
T. J. BIRDI ◽  
N. H. ANTIA
2011 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 742-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehervani Chaduvula ◽  
A. Murtaza ◽  
Namita Misra ◽  
N. P. Shankar Narayan ◽  
V. Ramesh ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTLsr2 protein ofMycobacterium lepraewas shown earlier to elicit B and T cell responses in leprosy patients (20, 28). Lymphoproliferation toM. lepraeand Lsr2 antigens was observed in >70% of tuberculoid (T) patients and in 16 and 34% of lepromatous (L) patients, respectively. We focused on theM. lepraenonresponders in the lepromatous group using 22 synthetic Lsr2 peptides (end-to-end peptides A to F and overlapping peptides p1 to p16) inin vitroT cell responses. A total of 125 leprosy and 13 tuberculosis patients and 19 healthy controls from the area of endemicity (here, healthy controls, or HC) were investigated. The highest responses were observed (67 to 100%) in HC for all peptides except p1 to p3, and the lowest was observed in tuberculosis patients. Significant differences in lymphoproliferation were observed in T, L, and HC groups (analysis of variance [ANOVA],P= 0.000 to 0.015) for all end-to-end peptides except B and for p5 and p7 to p10. Hierarchical recognition between lepromatous and tuberculoid leprosy was noted for p8 (P< 0.05) and between the HC and L groups for p7 to p10, p15, and p16 (P< 0.005 toP< 0.02). Significant lymphoproliferation was observed to peptides A to F and p1 to p9, p11, p12, p15, p16 (P= 0.000 to 0.001) with 40% responding to peptides C and p16 in L patients. Lepromatous patients also showed significantly higher levels of a gamma interferon (IFN-γ) response to peptide C than to other peptides (P< 0.05). Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II bias for peptide recognition was not observed. These studies indicate that Lsr2 has multiple T cell epitopes that inducein vitroT cell responses in the highly infective lepromatous leprosy patients.


1997 ◽  
Vol 41 (9) ◽  
pp. 1953-1956 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Ji ◽  
P Jamet ◽  
S Sow ◽  
E G Perani ◽  
I Traore ◽  
...  

Fifty-one lepromatous leprosy patients, all of whom had relapsed after previous dapsone (DDS) monotherapy, were treated between 1990 and 1991 with 600 mg of rifampin (RMP) plus 400 mg of ofloxacin (OFLO) daily for 4 weeks, and the great majority of the patients were followed up at least once a year after completion of the treatment. After only 173 patient-years of follow-up, 5 relapses had been detected; the overall relapse rate was 10.0% (confidence limits, 1.7 and 18.3%), or 2.9 relapses (confidence limits, 0.4 and 5.4) per 100 patient-years. The unacceptably high relapse rate indicated that 4 weeks of treatment with daily RMP-OFLO was unable to reduce the number of viable Mycobacterium leprae organisms to a negligible level. In addition, the M. leprae from one of the relapses were proved to have multiple resistance to DDS, RMP, and OFLO. To avoid further relapses, the follow-up was terminated and the great majority of the patients were retreated with the standard 2-year multidrug therapy from 1994. No further relapse has been diagnosed since the beginning of retreatment.


2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 275-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Om Parkash ◽  
Hari Bhan Singh ◽  
Subha Rai ◽  
Archna Pandey ◽  
Vishwa Mohan Katoch ◽  
...  

We have searched for Mycobacterium leprae DNA for 36kDa protein in urine using a M. leprae specific PCR technique. A limited number of 16 patients (of which 11 belonged to lepromatous leprosy and five to tuberculoid leprosy) and eight healthy individuals were included for the present study. The number of urine samples positive by PCR were 36.4% (4/11) in lepromatous patients and 40% (2/5) in tuberculoid patients. None of the samples from healthy individuals was positive. To our knowledge, the results indicate, for the first time, the presence of M. leprae DNA in urine from leprosy patients. Another important finding obtained out of the study is that amongst treated patients 66.6% (4/6) were positive whereas amongst untreated only 20% (2/10) were positive. From the present indicative data it appears that treatment improves the PCR results with urine as a sample. Thus, the approach could prove to be useful for monitoring the treatment response of individual patients and needs to be further evaluated with a large number of patients.


2005 ◽  
Vol 100 (7) ◽  
pp. 703-707 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora M Cardona-Castro ◽  
Sandra Restrepo-Jaramillo ◽  
Myriam Gil de la Ossa ◽  
Patrick J Brennan

1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 1115-1120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baohong Ji ◽  
Samba Sow ◽  
Evelyne Perani ◽  
Christian Lienhardt ◽  
Vimala Diderot ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT To develop a fully supervisable, monthly administered regimen for treatment of leprosy, the bactericidal effect of a single-dose combination of ofloxacin (OFLO) and minocycline (MINO), with or without rifampin (RMP), against Mycobacterium leprae was studied in the mouse footpad system and in previously untreated lepromatous leprosy patients. Bactericidal activity was measured by the proportional bactericidal method. In mouse experiments, the activity of a single dose of the combination OFLO-MINO was dosage related; the higher dosage of the combination displayed bactericidal activity which was significantly inferior to that of a single dose of RMP, whereas the lower dosage did not exhibit a bactericidal effect. In the clinical trial, 20 patients with previously untreated lepromatous leprosy were treated with a single dose consisting of either 600 mg of RMP plus 400 mg of OFLO and 100 mg of MINO or 400 mg of OFLO plus 100 mg of MINO. The OFLO-MINO combination exhibited definite bactericidal activity in 7 of 10 patients but was less bactericidal than the RMP-OFLO-MINO combination. Both combinations were well tolerated. Because of these promising results, a test of the efficacy of multiple doses of ROM in a larger clinical trial appears justified.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (18) ◽  
pp. 1550-1558
Author(s):  
Muhammad Aamir ◽  
Asma Sadaf ◽  
Sehroon Khan ◽  
Shagufta Perveen ◽  
Afsar Khan

Background: Many of the tropical diseases are neglected by the researchers and medicinal companies due to lack of profit and other interests. The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is established to overcome the problems associated with these neglected diseases. According to a report published by the WHO, leprosy (Hansen's disease) is also a neglected infectious disease. Methods: A negligible amount of advancements has been made in last few decades which includes the tools of diagnosis, causes, treatment, and genetic studies of the bacterium (Mycobacterium leprae) that causes leprosy. The diagnosis of leprosy at earlier stages is important for its effective treatment. Recent studies on vitamin D and its receptors make leprosy diagnosis easier at earlier stages. Skin biopsies and qPCR are the other tools to identify the disease at its initial stages. Results: Until now a specific drug for the treatment of leprosy is not available, therefore, Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT) is used, which is hazardous to health. Besides Mycobacterium leprae, recently a new bacterium Mycobacterium lepromatosis was also identified as a cause of leprosy. During the last few years the genetic studies of Mycobacterium leprae, the role of vitamin D and vitamin D receptors (VDR), and the skin biopsies made the treatment and diagnosis of leprosy easier at early stages. The studies of micro RNAs (miRNAs) made it easy to differentiate leprosy from other diseases especially from tuberculosis. Conclusion: Leprosy can be distinguished from sarcoidosis by quantitative study of reticulin fibers present in skin. The treatment used until now for leprosy is multi-drug treatment. The complete genome identification of Mycobacterium leprae makes the research easy to develop target specified drugs for leprosy. Rifampicin, identified as a potent drug, along with other drugs in uniform multi-drug treatment, has a significant effect when given to leprosy patients at initial stages. These are effective treatments but a specific drug for leprosy is still needed to be identified. The current review highlights the use of modern methods for the identification of leprosy at its earlier stages and the effective use of drugs alone as well as in combination.


2021 ◽  
pp. 004947552199849
Author(s):  
Prakriti Shukla ◽  
Kiran Preet Malhotra ◽  
Parul Verma ◽  
Swastika Suvirya ◽  
Abir Saraswat ◽  
...  

Non-neuropathic ulcers in leprosy patients are infrequently seen, and atypical presentations are prone to misdiagnosis. We evaluated diagnosed cases of leprosy between January 2017 and January 2020 for the presence of cutaneous ulceration, Ridley–Jopling subtype of leprosy, reactions and histologic features of these ulcerations. Treatment was given as WHO recommended multi-bacillary multi-drug therapy. We found 17/386 leprosy patients with non-neuropathic ulcers. We describe three causes – spontaneous cutaneous ulceration in lepromatous leprosy (one nodular and one diffuse), lepra reactions (five patients with type 1; nine with type 2, further categorised into ulcerated Sweet syndrome-like who also had pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia, pustulo-necrotic and necrotic erythema nodosum leprosum) and Lucio phenomenon (one patient). Our series draws attention towards the different faces of non-neuropathic ulcers in leprosy, including some atypical and novel presentations.


AMB Express ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo dos Santos Barbosa ◽  
Iara Beatriz Andrade de Sousa ◽  
Simone Simionatto ◽  
Sibele Borsuk ◽  
Silvana Beutinger Marchioro

AbstractCurrent prevention methods for the transmission of Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, are inadequate as suggested by the rate of new leprosy cases reported. Simple large-scale detection methods for M. leprae infection are crucial for early detection of leprosy and disease control. The present study investigates the production and seroreactivity of a recombinant polypeptide composed of various M. leprae protein epitopes. The structural and physicochemical parameters of this construction were assessed using in silico tools. Parameters like subcellular localization, presence of signal peptide, primary, secondary, and tertiary structures, and 3D model were ascertained using several bioinformatics tools. The resultant purified recombinant polypeptide, designated rMLP15, is composed of 15 peptides from six selected M. leprae proteins (ML1358, ML2055, ML0885, ML1811, ML1812, and ML1214) that induce T cell reactivity in leprosy patients from different hyperendemic regions. Using rMLP15 as the antigen, sera from 24 positive patients and 14 healthy controls were evaluated for reactivity via ELISA. ELISA-rMLP15 was able to diagnose 79.17% of leprosy patients with a specificity of 92.86%. rMLP15 was also able to detect the multibacillary and paucibacillary patients in the same proportions, a desirable addition in the leprosy diagnosis. These results summarily indicate the utility of the recombinant protein rMLP15 in the diagnosis of leprosy and the future development of a viable screening test.


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