Genetically determined differences in immune responses to environmental agents may underlie susceptibility to many autoimmune and infectious diseases. Leprosy provides an example of a polarity in the type of immune response made to an infectious agent, and there is evidence that the major histocompatibility complex is genetically linked to leprosy type. It was found that HLA-DR2 is associated w...

Lymphocytotoxic autoantibodies (LCAbs) of the IgM class have been identified in patients with borderline tuberculoid (BT) and borderline lepromatous (BL) leprosy with Type I reactions (I) as well as lepromatous leprosy (LL) patients with erythema nodosum leprosum reactions (ENL). The observation that lymphocytotoxic activity (LCA) was reduced in the presence of platelets led us to determine whe...

Background: Langerhans cells are important in the pathogenesis of leprosy.  A recent study reported that these cells were almost absent in the epidermis overlying lepromatous lesions. Objective: To investigate a possible relationship between the number of Langerhans cells and the histopathologic spectrum of lesions in patients with leprosy. Methods: An immunohistochemical staining for S100 prot...

Erythema nodosum leprosum necroticans is an uncommon manifestation of type 2 lepra reaction, encountered in lepromatous and borderline lepromatous cases of leprosy. We report an unusual clinical presentation of necrotic erythema nodosum leprosum in a 9-year-old boy with no pre-existing evidence of leprosy. The lesions resolved completely following multi-bacilliary multi-drug therapy for 12 mont...

OBJECTIVES Type 2 lepra reaction is a Th2-mediated type III hypersensitivity reaction in leprosy, with a characteristic cutaneous manifestation in the form of erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL). We describe unusual presentations of Type 2 lepra reaction in five patients. METHODS Patient data and dermatological findings were analyzed in three men and two women diagnosed with Hansen's disease. R...

PGL-I (phenolic glycolipid I) emerged in the early 1980s on the one hand as part of intensive efforts to define the typing antigens of a host of Mycobacterium spp. and also from characterisation of the lipids of skin biopsies from highly bacillary positive lepromatous leprosy patients. PGL-I, despite its extreme lipophilicity due to its inherent phthiocerol dimycocerosyl component, is highly an...

Urinary excretion of hydroxyproline has been studied in patients with different types of leprosy. The mean average daily excretion is highest in lepromatous leprosy as compared with other forms of leprosy or normal controls. The most striking feature is the “spiky” pattern of the excretion with very wide fluctuations in the daily output observed in lepromatous leprosy patients in reaction. This...

Objective: Determine the frequency of rheumatoid factor (IgM-RF) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP), antinuclear antibodies (ANA), antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA), anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL), and anti-β2 glycoprotein I antibodies (anti-β2GPI) in leprosy patients, with and without joint involvement, and to evaluate the possible association among those ...

INTRODUCTION: Currently, there are no laboratory tests or sensitive and specific molecular markers for the early diagnosis of leprosy. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with leprosy and investigate their immunological profile, comparing this with the type of lesion and the presence or absence of a Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination scar. ME...

BACKGROUND Leprosy is characterized by polar clinical, histologic and immunological presentations. Previous immunologic studies of leprosy polarity were limited by the repertoire of cytokines known at the time. METHODOLOGY We used a candidate gene approach to measure mRNA levels in skin biopsies from leprosy lesions. mRNA from 24 chemokines and cytokines, and 6 immune cell type markers were m...