Plasma heparin-precipitable fraction in leprosy patients.

The heparin-precipitahle fraction ( HPF ) present in low concentrations in the plasma of normal individuals and elevated in some dis~ases was first characterized and studied by Smith ( 15) and Smith and Von Korf-f ( 10) in 1957. This fraction was demonstrated to be a "fibrinogen-like" protein that precipitated in vitro in cooled heparinized plasma. Smith reported significant increases of HPF in severn I inflammatory and necrotizing conditions, and more recently, Harville et al. (~) found a correlation between the elevation of HPF and certain disease states involving a necrotizing vasculitis. Varying degrees of vasculitis and cutaneous necrosis are associated with reactions in leprosy (8, 13 , 19), and for this reason a study of the occurrence of HPF in reactional episodes and its possible association with other phenomena was undertaken.