Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year(sorted ascending) Filter | PMID Filter |
|---|
| th1-th2 paradigm: insights from leprosy. | the mechanism by which t cells and cytokines regulate immune processes in skin can be investigated by studying patients with leprosy. the disease, caused by the obligate intracellular bacterium mycobacterium leprae, forms a spectrum. at one pole, patients with tuberculoid leprosy are able to restrict the growth of the pathogen and their skin lesions are characterized by a predominance of cd4+ t cells and type 1 cytokines including interleukin 2 and interferon gamma. at the opposite pole, patient ... | 1994 | 8006444 |
| purification, characterization, gene sequence, and significance of a bacterioferritin from mycobacterium leprae. | the study of tissue-derived mycobacterium leprae provides insights to the immunopathology of leprosy and helps identify broad molecular features necessary for mycobacterial parasitism. a major membrane protein (mmp-ii) of in vivo-derived m. leprae previously recognized (hunter, s.w., b. rivoire, v. mehra, b.r. bloom, and p.j. brennan. 1990. j. biol. chem. 265:14065) was purified from extracts of the organism and partial amino acid sequence obtained. this information allowed recognition, within o ... | 1994 | 8006590 |
| methods in pathology. an improved method for dna diagnosis of leprosy using formaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded skin biopsies. | to improve the sensitivity of the previously reported polymerase chain reaction (pcr) for the detection of mycobacterium (m.) leprae in the formaldehyde-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues, we adapted the pcr designed to amplify an internal 372 bp fragment of a m. leprae-specific repetitive sequence to 39 skin biopsies taken from patients with leprosy of the lepromatous type and tuberculoid type. crude dna samples were prepared from tissue sections that were deparaffinized and subjected to proteina ... | 1994 | 8008750 |
| scale-up production of a recombinant mycobacterium leprae antigen. | 1994 | 8010659 | |
| in vivo susceptibility of mycobacterium leprae to ofloxacin either singly or in combination with rifampicin and rifabutin. anti-leprosy activity of ofloxacin and ansamycins in mice. | the antimicrobial effects of ofloxacin against mycobacterium leprae, either alone or in combination with rifampicin and rifabutin, were studied using mouse foot pad assay technique. when used singly, the minimum concentrations of the drugs needed to completely inhibit the growth of mycobacterium leprae in foot pads of mice were 50 mg/kg body weight for ofloxacin and 0.003% and 0.0001%, respectively, for rifampicin and rifabutin. however, excellent synergistic effects were observed when mice were ... | 1994 | 8011013 |
| identification, isolation and sequencing of the reca gene of streptomyces lividans tk24. | an internal fragment of the reca gene of streptomyces cattleya was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (pcr) employing degenerate oligonucleotide primers. using this fragment as a hybridization probe, a reca homologous gene could be shown in each tested streptomyces strain. a 4.4 kb bamhi fragment which carried the complete reca gene was isolated from streptomyces lividans tk24. sequence analysis suggested that the coding region of the reca gene consists of 1122 bp. the highest similarity ... | 1994 | 8013883 |
| mycobacterium leprae dna from ancient bone detected by pcr. | 1994 | 7910345 | |
| chemical definition, cloning, and expression of the major protein of the leprosy bacillus. | the decline in prevalence of leprosy is not necessarily matched by a fall in incidence, emphasizing the need for new antigens to measure disease transmission and reservoirs of infection. mycobacterium leprae obtained from armadillo tissues was disrupted and subjected to differential centrifugation to arrive at preparations of cell wall, cytoplasmic membrane, and cytosol. by committing 0.3 g of m. leprae to the task, it was possible to isolate from the cytosol and fully define the major cytosolic ... | 1994 | 7910593 |
| isolation and characterization of the aspartokinase and aspartate semialdehyde dehydrogenase operon from mycobacteria. | diaminopimelic acid (dap) is a major component of the peptidoglycan layer of the mycobacterial cell wall. the mycobacterial cell wall has been implicated as a potential virulence factor and is highly immunogenic. the pathway for biosynthesis of dap may serve as a target in the design of antimycobacterial agents and construction of in vivo selection systems. despite its significance, this biosynthetic pathway is poorly understood in mycobacteria. in order to develop a better understanding of myco ... | 1994 | 7910936 |
| leprosy vaccine. | 1994 | 7911225 | |
| [proceedings of the workshops of the 14th international leprology congress. orland (usa). 29 august-4 september 1993]. | 1994 | 7911638 | |
| heat shock protein 60 (groel) from porphyromonas gingivalis: molecular cloning and sequence analysis of its gene and purification of the recombinant protein. | porphyromonas gingivalis is associated with human periodontal disease. we cloned and sequenced the gene for heat shock protein 60 (groel, hsp60) from p. gingivalis fdc381. the identified clone carried a 2.6 kb dna fragment which contained two open reading frames (orfs) encoding a 9.6- and a 58.4-kda protein. the translated amino acid sequence of these orfs showed a high degree of homology with known sequences for groes and groel from several bacterial species and humans. escherichia coli carryin ... | 1994 | 7913687 |
| arthritis of leprosy. | an inflammatory polyarthritis has been previously described in leprosy but accounts of the clinical characteristics have varied. all patients with joint symptoms admitted to a leprosy centre over 5 months were examined by a rheumatologist. of 48 acute admissions, 20 (42%) had a symmetrical polyarthritis affecting the wrists and fingers. this was strikingly similar to ra in appearance. the arthritis occurred exclusively in patients with reactions mainly during anti-mycobacterial treatment. the cl ... | 1994 | 7921759 |
| autoantibodies to cerebroside sulphate (sulphatide) in leprosy. | sera from 40 leprosy patients were screened for autoantibodies to cerebroside sulphate (sulphatide). anti-sulphatide igm in groups of patients with lepromatous (ll) and borderline (bl + bb + bt), but not with tuberculoid (tt) disease, were significantly elevated above the levels found in endemic control subjects. eight-six percent (18 out of 21; mean 1.59 od units) of ll, 33% (four out of 12; mean 1.08 od units) of borderline and 13% (one out of eight; mean 0.69 od units) of tuberculoid patients ... | 1994 | 7923874 |
| a single mycobacterial protein (hsp 65) expressed by a transgenic antigen-presenting cell vaccinates mice against tuberculosis. | we used a retroviral shuttle vector [pzipneosv(x)] to transfect a monocyte-like murine tumour cell line (j774.g8) with the mycobacterium leprae gene encoding heat-shock protein (hsp) 65. the antigen was expressed and presented on the surface of the transfected cell in association with major histocompatibility complex (mhc) class i and class ii for recognition by t cells from specifically sensitized mice. we show here that when these transfected cells were used as a vaccine and introduced parenta ... | 1994 | 7927495 |
| vaccination with pure mycobacterium leprae proteins inhibits m. leprae multiplication in mouse footpads. | in this study, we evaluated vaccination with a number of purified, as well as recombinant, mycobacterium leprae proteins for protective efficacy in mice. balb/c mice were immunized intradermally with various native somatic (purified) or recombinant m. leprae proteins and their synthetic polypeptides emulsified in freund's incomplete adjuvant. the protective efficacy of these preparations was assessed by enumeration of bacilli in the footpads of mice challenged with viable m. leprae 1 to 2 months ... | 1994 | 7927681 |
| cloning and sequencing of a bordetella pertussis serum resistance locus. | we have characterized a new virulence factor in bordetella pertussis: serum resistance. compared with escherichia coli hb101, wild-type b. pertussis was relatively resistant to classical-pathway, complement-dependent killing by normal human serum. however, a mutant of b. pertussis (bpm2041) which is less virulent in mice and which has tn5 lac inserted in a previously uncharacterized bvg-regulated gene was found to be at least 10-fold more susceptible to serum killing than the wild type. we have ... | 1994 | 7927748 |
| lepromatous leprosy with extensive truncal seborrheic keratoses and acral verruca vulgaris. | 1994 | 7928035 | |
| [anti-leprosy vaccines and drugs]. | 1994 | 7928797 | |
| [gerhard henrik armauer hansen and his discovery of mycobacterium leprae]. | 1994 | 7928799 | |
| antibody to 65-kd stress protein (hsp65) of mycobacterium leprae in various inflammatory skin diseases. a preliminary report. | cells from prokaryotes and eukaryotes exposed to environmental changes produce a series of highly homologous proteins called stress proteins, or heat shock proteins (hsps). recent investigators suggested that the reaction to the shared antigenic epitope between hsps may link infections with induction of autoimmune processes. in the present study, antibody level to hsp with 65 kda (hsp65) of mycobacterium leprae was investigated with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) in various skin disea ... | 1994 | 7928800 |
| il-12 regulates t helper type 1 cytokine responses in human infectious disease. | we investigated the role of il-12 in regulating t cell and cytokine responses in human infectious disease by using the spectrum of leprosy as a model. tuberculoid patients mount strong t cell responses to mycobacterium leprae, with production of the type 1 cytokines il-2 and ifn-gamma in lesions; whereas lepromatous patients manifest weak t cell responses to m. leprae, with production of the type 2 cytokines il-4 and il-10 in lesions. we found expression of il-12 p40 mrna, as measured by pcr amp ... | 1994 | 7930584 |
| prevalence of human t cell lymphotropic virus (htlv) types i and ii and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infections among persons with hansen's disease in new york city. | one-hundred seven consecutive patients attending a new york hansen's disease clinic from november 1990 through june 1991 were tested for retroviruses. this cohort included 58 patients diagnosed with hansen's disease after the onset of the aids epidemic, 54 of whom immigrated to the united states before diagnosis of hansen's disease (median, 7 years). the overall rate (1.9%) of human t cell lymphotropic virus (htlv) type i infection was low. two (3.6%) of 55 caribbean-born patients had polymerase ... | 1994 | 7930695 |
| a colorimetric pcr method for the detection of m. leprae in skin biopsies from leprosy patients. | a one-tube nested polymerase chain reaction (pcr) method for the diagnosis of paucibacillary leprosy was developed using the repetitive rlep sequence as a target. detection of the pcr products was simplified by the adaptation of a colorimetric method. the test was specific for mycobacterium leprae, and the sensitivity of the assay was 1 fg of purified genomic m. leprae dna (less than one genome). complete concordance was seen between the development of color and resolution on agarose gels. the r ... | 1994 | 7868947 |
| protective effect of bcg against leprosy and its subtypes: a case-control study in southern vietnam. | a case-control study was conducted to assess the protective effect of intradermal bcg against leprosy and its subtypes in southern vietnam. a total of 177 cases were selected with a distribution by subtypes as follows: 38 tt, 23 bt, 51 bb, 36 bl, 22 ll, and 7 indeterminate. two controls were matched with a case for age, sex, ethnic group, socioeconomic status, and district area. the odds ratio assessing the protective effect of bcg varied from 0.44 (0.19-1.03) in the bb subtype to 3.00 (0.24-37. ... | 1994 | 7868950 |
| epidemiological studies in children of a low-endemic region, a high-endemic region, and dwellers of a leprosy colony: evaluation of anti-nd-bsa antibodies and lepromin response. | children residing in a low-endemic region (ler), a high-endemic region (her), and a leprosy colony contact population (cp) were evaluated for lepromin response as well as reactivity to the mycobacterium leprae-specific synthetic antigen, nd-bsa. the mean reactivity to nd-bsa in the ler group (od 0.03 +/- 0.03, n = 71) was significantly lower (p < 0.001) than that in the contact population (od 0.14 +/- 0.09, n = 140) as well as the population residing in the her (od 0.09 +/- 0.08, n = 1340). elis ... | 1994 | 7868951 |
| a longitudinal study of immunologic reactivity in leprosy patients treated with immunotherapy. | more than 150 leprosy patients treated with multidrug therapy (mdt) plus immunotherapy (imt) with a mixture of heat-killed mycobacterium leprae plus live bcg were studied in relation to humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. many previously had received prolonged sulfone monotherapy. patients received 2 to 10 doses of imt in a period of 1 to 3 years, depending upon their clinical form of leprosy. the patients were followed up for 5 to 10 years with repeated determinations of antibody levels ... | 1994 | 7868953 |
| efficacy of minocycline in single dose and at 100 mg twice daily for lepromatous leprosy. | a clinical trial of minocycline in a total of 10 patients with previously untreated lepromatous leprosy was conducted in order to evaluate the efficacy of a single, initial, 200-mg dose and 100 mg twice daily of minocycline for a total duration of up to 3 months. patients improved remarkably quickly. although single-dose therapy did not result in a significant killing of mycobacterium leprae, viable m. leprae were cleared from the dermis regularly by 3 months of twice-daily therapy, a rate simil ... | 1994 | 7868955 |
| the microbiology of mycobacterium leprae, part ii. reflections on major developments and those responsible for them. | 1994 | 7868959 | |
| experimental transmission of human leprosy bacilli in foot pads of severe combined immunodeficient mice. | 1994 | 7868963 | |
| relapse after long-term follow up of multibacillary patients treated by who multidrug regimen. | 1994 | 7868967 | |
| diagnostic value of gene probes and its correlation with clinical profile of leprosy in children. | clinico-bacteriological profile of 73 leprosy patients below 16 years of age was studied. majority of the patients were males and fell in 11-16 years age group (p < 0.05). skin lesions were present in all cases on both exposed as well as unexposed areas and their number increased with advancing age. cutaneous sensations were affected in most of the patients while nerve thickening was observed in 41. as age increased, the disease moved from the tuberculoid end of spectrum towards the lepromatous ... | 1994 | 7875812 |
| thalidomide does not perturb cd2, cd4, cd5, cd8, hla-dr, or hla-a, b, c molecules in vitro on the membranes of cells with immune potential. | thalidomide dramatically relieves the signs and symptoms of erythema nodosum leprosum (enl). enl is an acute inflammatory complication of lepromatous leprosy. the cause(s) of enl as well as the mechanism of action of thalidomide in arresting enl are unknowns. it has been suggested that enl is the consequence of a transient activation of a cell-mediated-immune (cmi) response to mycobacterium leprae. to initiate a cmi response, an interaction between adhesion and/or signal transducing molecules on ... | 1994 | 7876469 |
| immunohistological localization of mycobacterial antigens within the peripheral nerves of treated leprosy patients and their significance to nerve damage in leprosy. | the presence and distribution of mycobacterium leprae-specific and cross-reacting antigens within the peripheral nerves of multidrug-treated patients with leprosy was investigated to gain a better understanding of the mechanism of nerve damage and the effect of multidrug therapy (mdt) on it. there was no specific qualitative difference in the type of antigens in the leprosy spectrum. however, our results indicate that there may be differential handling of antigens by the macrophages as compared ... | 1994 | 7839822 |
| characterization of rifampin-resistance in pathogenic mycobacteria. | the emergence of rifampin-resistant strains of pathogenic mycobacteria has threatened the usefulness of this drug in treating mycobacterial diseases. critical to the treatment of individuals infected with resistant strains is the rapid identification of these strains directly from clinical specimens. it has been shown that resistance to rifampin in mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae apparently involves mutations in the rpob gene encoding the beta-subunit of the rna polymerases o ... | 1994 | 7840574 |
| [clinical aspects and therapy of early lepromatous leprosy with a case example]. | taking into account the increase in worldwide human migration, leprosy is of growing importance in the differential diagnosis of dermatological diseases encountered in central europe. we report on the case of a young man from ghana who developed hypopigmented maculae and plaques on his trunk and proximal limbs. the diagnosis of lepromatous leprosy could be made in consideration of the histological pattern of infiltrating leucocytes and detection of numerous acid-fast mycobacteria on skin biopsy. ... | 1994 | 7843963 |
| on the beta-glucuronidase binding protein (bgbp) of microorganisms. its purification, the antiserum preparation against that and its localization in leproma and the other infectious lesions shown by immunohistologic method. | our previous studies suggested that m. leprae (ml) grow in peripheral nerves and lepra cells because ml metabolize hyaluronic acid (ha), and use its component for their growth by the aid of host enzyme combined to the bacilli derived beta-glucuronidase binding protein (bgbp). in this study, therefore, we examined the method to purify bgbp from a mycobacterium hi-75 originally separated from a leproma and cultured by modified ogawa's medium containing split products of ha (glucuronic acid and n-a ... | 1994 | 7844061 |
| [elimination of contaminants in a homogenate of nude-mouse footpad experimentally infected with mycobacterium leprae]. | for elimination of contaminants in a homogenate of nude-mouse footpad infected with m.leprae, the pretreatment with trypsin was tested. the results obtained indicated that the final sterile product was satisfactorily obtained, if the pretreatment with trypsin 0.05%, 37 degrees c, 60min to the homogenate was carried out before the treatment with sodium hydroxide 1%, 37 degrees c, 15min. this procedure might contribute to make a suspension of partially purified m.leprae from the infected tissues, ... | 1994 | 7844062 |
| proteasome sequences in eubacteria. | 1994 | 7846763 | |
| leprosy-specific neoglycoconjugates: synthesis and application to serodiagnosis of leprosy. | 1994 | 7891583 | |
| [application of polymerase chain reaction in medical microbiology]. | an overview is presented of different nucleic acid amplification techniques, particularly the polymerase chain reaction (pcr). the possible applications of the pcr in medical microbiology and the different phases of the pcr are discussed. four pcr applications, as elaborated and used in the authors' laboratory are presented: the diagnoses of mycoplasma pneumoniae infections, herpes simplex virus encephalitis and toxoplasma gondii encephalitis, and the detection of mycobacterium leprae. for the f ... | 1994 | 7892750 |
| infection with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (hiv-1) and human t cell lymphotropic viruses among leprosy patients and contacts: correlation between hiv-1 cross-reactivity and antibodies to lipoarabinomannan. | to determine the association between leprosy and human retroviral infections, 57 leprosy patients, 39 leprosy contacts, and 500 pregnant women were investigated serologically for antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (hiv) and human t cell lymphotropic virus (htlv) types i and ii. antibodies to mycobacterium leprae phenolic glycolipid i (pgl-i), and lipoarabinomannan (lam) were also analyzed. a low prevalence of hiv-1 infection was observed among leprosy patients (3.5%), leprosy cont ... | 1994 | 7906291 |
| leprosy vaccine. | 1994 | 7908414 | |
| lipid synthesis in mycobacteria: characterization of the biotin carboxyl carrier protein genes from mycobacterium leprae and m. tuberculosis. | the causative agents of leprosy and tuberculosis, mycobacterium leprae and mycobacterium tuberculosis, have a lipid-rich cell envelope which contributes to virulence and antibiotic resistance. acyl coenzyme a carboxylase, which catalyzes the first committed step of lipid biosynthesis, consists in mycobacteria of two subunits, one of which is biotinylated. genes from m. leprae and m. tuberculosis encoding a biotinylated protein have been cloned and sequenced. analysis of the derived protein seque ... | 1994 | 7909542 |
| in vitro activities of 2,2'-bipyridyl analogs against mycobacterium leprae. | in vitro susceptibility of mycobacterium leprae to two bipyridyl analogs was studied by using two biochemical parameters to measure the metabolic activity of the organism. vuf-8514 at 0.16 micrograms/ml, but not vuf-8842, completely inhibited the metabolic activity of m. leprae, and the action was bactericidal. when compared to rifampin (mic 0.3 micrograms/ml), vuf-8514 was equally bactericidal against m. leprae. | 1994 | 7695282 |
| [sequential activation of cellular and humoral immunity in leprosy: considerations based on recent findings]. | lepromatous leprosy in the human being evolves showing a progressive loss of cell mediated immunity (cmi) to the antigens of mycobacterium leprae (ml). this does not prevent the host to respond with antibodies to the same microorganism. on the other hand, the production of antibodies to the great majority of exogenous antigens results from cell-to-cell interactions that involve the participation of helper t cells. on this ground, a satisfactory explanation for the loss of cmi to m. leprae (which ... | 1994 | 7709098 |
| cytokine patterns at the site of mycobacterial infection. | distinct patterns of t cell cytokine production have been shown to influence the outcome of infection in mouse models and humans. th1 or type 1 cytokines, interleukin-2 (il-2) and interferon-gamma (ifn-gamma) are generally associated with resistance to infection, whereas th2 or type 2 cytokines, il-4 and il-10 are associated with progressive disease. leprosy is a useful model for studying the role of cytokines in modulating t cell responses in human infectious disease. infection by mycobacterium ... | 1994 | 7713551 |
| mycobacterium leprae dna content, cellular and cytokine patterns in skin lesions of leprosy patients undergoing multidrug therapy (mdt). | skin biopsies from untreated and mdt-treated patients were examined for infiltrating cells and cells producing the cytokines tnf-alpha, ifn-gamma, and il-1 beta using immunohistochemistry. biopsy specimens from untreated tuberculoid leprosy patients were characterized by the presence of cells producing tnf-alpha, ifn-gamma, and il-1 beta and of subepidermal langerhans cells. these cells were rarely found or completely absent in biopsies of untreated lepromatous leprosy patients, but tended to in ... | 1994 | 7713552 |
| comparative assessment of viability of m.leprae by mouse foot-pad and fluorescent staining techniques. | morphological characteristics have been used as a parameter to assess the viability of m.leprae in leprosy patients. however, with the advent of the mouse foot-pad technique, viability of m.leprae is determined by growing the bacilli in the mouse foot-pad. in recent years, a fluorescent staining technique using fluorescent diacetate-ethidium bromide (fda-eb) has been used to assess the viability of cultivable mycobacteria as well as m.leprae. the purpose of this study was to compare the viabilit ... | 1994 | 7714355 |
| integration of traditional and modern methods in the identification of afb cultures isolated from clinical specimens of patients with skin diseases. | this article reports the identification of 57 afb cultures isolated from clinical specimens by using traditional methods (tm, including biochemical and cultural methods) and modern elisa with monoclonal antibody (mcab-elisa) and nested primer gene amplification assay (npgaa). the representive afb culture m. a1, a7, a19, a21 and a22) isolated from human lepromas were identified as new species by tm and it was shown that they were not identical to m. leprae by mcab-elisa and npgaa. among another s ... | 1994 | 7718860 |
| [evaluation of two glycolipids from m. tuberculosis in the serodiagnosis of tuberculosis]. | sera from 112 healthy controls and 120 pulmonary tuberculous patients (61 untreated patients and 59 active patients) were assayed, by elisa, to test the activity of igg and igm antibodies against antigen of 2, 3-diacyl-trehalose-2'-sulphate (sl iv) a phenolglycolipid antigen (pgltb1) and purified protein derivative (ppd) from m. tuberculosis. respectively, for sl iv-igg-elisa, sl iv-igm-elisa, pgltb1-igg-elisa, pgltb1-igm-elisa, ppd-igg-elisa, the specificities were of 96.43, 96.43, 96.43, 96.43 ... | 1994 | 7720130 |
| [effect of chloroform on the extracting efficiency of adenosine tri-phosphate (atp) from the cells of mycobacterium leprae]. | effect of chloroform on the extraction of atp from the cells of mycobacterium leprae was investigated. the results demonstrate that the yields of atp from the resting cells of m. leprae were much more higher when 100mm tris-edta was added to the procedure than that of the routine method. the amounts of atp extracted from the cells of m. leprae incubated either in 10% calf serum-buffer (ph 7) or 10% calf serum-2% glycerin-dubos medium at 30 degrees c gradually increased with time of incubation wh ... | 1994 | 7730213 |
| leprosy. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disorder, presumptively caused by mycobacterium leprae. this article reviews the epidemiology, etiopathogenesis, classification, clinical features, reactions, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease. | 1994 | 7805293 |
| an id reaction to mycobacterium leprae: first documented case. | we present a case of generalized sarcoidal dermatitis in a patient with tuberculoid leprosy. after careful consideration of the reactional states in leprosy and recognizing that id reactions occur in other mycobacterial infections, we concluded that the patient's eruption was likely an id reaction to his mycobacterium leprae infection. it was most reminiscent of the tuberculids: lichenoid tuberculid and lichen scrofulosorum. however, its histomorphologic appearance was distinctive, showing elong ... | 1994 | 7805416 |
| chemotherapy of lepromatous leprosy: recent developments and prospects for the future. | leprosy is a major debilitating infectious disease, primarily of the developing world. in this paper the current status and future prospects of antimicrobial therapy of the severe anergic lepromatous form of the disease are reviewed. until the last few years only dapsone, rifampicin, clofazimine and ethionamide have had practical application in its therapy, and only rifampicin was bactericidal. recently, antibiotics from three different classes have been found to be bactericidal in lepromatous p ... | 1994 | 7698121 |
| conserved sequence features of inteins (protein introns) and their use in identifying new inteins and related proteins. | inteins (protein introns) are internal portions of protein sequences that are posttranslationally excised while the flanking regions are spliced together, making an additional protein product. inteins have been found in a number of homologous genes in yeast, mycobacteria, and extreme thermophile archaebacteria. the inteins are probably multifunctional, autocatalyzing their own splicing, and some were also shown to be dna endonucleases. the splice junction regions and two regions similar to homin ... | 1994 | 7756989 |
| effect of xylol, urea and dpx on biological structures in leprosy cultures. | 1994 | 7806907 | |
| [molecular cloning of alpha antigen like protein gene of mycobacterium leprae and its over production in escherichia coli]. | i have constructed the genomic library of m. leprae thai 53 strain, and cloned the alpha antigen like protein gene by plaque hybridization method by using m. leprae alpha antigen dna fragment as probe which was characterized in the previous study, i have termed it as alpha 2 antigen gene. the alpha 2 antigen gene has been characterized by sequencing. by comparing the deduced amino acid sequence of alpha and alpha 2 antigen with 85 complex antigen of other mycobacteria. i have found the higher ho ... | 1994 | 7829901 |
| demonstration of mycobacterial antigens in skin biopsies fron suspected leprosy cases in the absence of bacilli. | skin-biopsies from fifty-six patients suspected of early leprosy from bahia state, brazil, were examined histopathologically. the fite-faraco staining failed to demonstrate acid-fast bacilli in this material. the prominent features of the lesions were inflammation of the neurovascular bundles and sometimes inflammation of the skin appendages. the non-specific infiltrate was predominantly composed of histiocytes and lymphocytes. in 41 cases (73.2%) epidermal atrophy was also present. the avidin-b ... | 1994 | 7831154 |
| protection against tuberculosis by passive transfer with t-cell clones recognizing mycobacterial heat-shock protein 65. | we have previously shown that mice vaccinated by injection with j774 macrophage-like tumour cells that expressed mycobacterium leprae heat-shock protein (hsp) 65 as a transgene had acquired a remarkably high degree of protection against subsequent challenge with virulent m. tuberculosis. we show here that antigen-specific t cells cloned from spleens of such vaccinated animals can transfer a high level of protection to non-vaccinated recipients. the most efficient cells were of t-cell receptor (t ... | 1994 | 7835957 |
| igg subclass antibody to mycobacterium leprae 18,000 mw antigen is restricted to igg1 and igg3 in leprosy. | igg subclass responses to mycobacterium leprae 18,000 mw recombinant antigen (18k) were determined in sera from untreated leprosy patients using an elisa-based assay with specific monoclonal antibodies. antibodies to m. leprae 18k were restricted to igg1 and igg3 antibodies with higher seropositivity in lepromatous patients (25.5% for igg1 and 12.8% for igg3) compared to patients with tuberculoid disease (11.5% for igg1 and 5% for igg3). no significant antibody response was detectable in igg2 an ... | 1994 | 7835976 |
| morphology of cystic structures seen in leprosy biopsy suspensions kept at cooler temperatures. | cystic structures were seen in good numbers in biopsy suspensions obtained from leprosy patients and kept at cooler temperature. the structures were found arranged in singles, clusters or straight lines. in clusters, small round structures were seen surrounding a large spherical body. the small cystic bodies appeared empty, the medium sized bodies showed fine particles while the large ones showed spherules in and around them. it appears that the seed structure of the cycle emerges from the large ... | 1994 | 7861043 |
| evaluation of modified lepro-agglutination as screening test for leprosy. | one hundred thirty-three leprosy sera (83 multibacillary (mb) and 50 paucibacillary (pb) cases) were screened by lepro-agglutination (la) and m.leprae particle agglutination (mlpa) tests. larger number of mb sera were positive by la (86.75%) than by mlpa (45.12%) test. thirty-seven of the 45 mb sera negative by mlpa test were positive by la test. the reverse was true in three out of 11 mb sera. pb sera showed positivity of 16% in la test and 24% in mlpa test. all the 55 sera from normal healthy ... | 1994 | 7861046 |
| the role of igm antiphenolic glycolipid-1 antibodies in assessing household contacts of leprosy patients in a low endemic area. | this study was carried out to assess the role pgl-1 antibodies may have to play in assisting with early diagnosis in close contacts of leprosy patients. blood samples were collected from patients and contacts. it was found that 6.9% of index cases and 1% of healthy contacts were positive for pgl-1 antibody. none of the healthy contacts developed clinical leprosy and all had become seronegative at follow-up. we conclude that screening for pgl-1 antibodies has a limited role in the screening of he ... | 1994 | 7861916 |
| inoculation of the mycobacterium leprae into the hamster cheek pouch. | 1994 | 7861926 | |
| immunoprecipitation of mycobacterial antigens with sera from patients with leprosy. | pooled sera from leprosy patients across the clinical spectrum, tuberculosis patients and healthy individuals were tested for their reactivity with antigens of mycobacterium leprae and a panel of cultivable mycobacteria by immunoprecipitation technique. sera from lepromatous leprosy patients demonstrated exclusive reactivity with the 26-kda protein of m. tuberculosis h37ra, 28-kda protein of m. kansasii, 45-kda protein of m. smegmatis, and 158, 40 and 14 kda proteins of m. phlei. sera from patie ... | 1994 | 7863757 |
| human immunodeficiency virus- 1 in leprosy patients attending kenyatta national hospital, nairobi. | the purpose of this study was to determine if mycobacterium leprae is an opportunistic pathogen in immunosuppressed subjects with hiv infection. ninety six leprosy patients at infectious diseases hospital (idh), nairobi were screened for, hiv-1 antibody between january 1991 and june 1992. the patients included 15 who were diagnosed during the study period and 81 who were previously diagnosed and were on anti-leprosy treatment. blood was screened for hiv antibody by first elisa and double positiv ... | 1994 | 7867537 |
| evidence of selection for protein introns in the recas of pathogenic mycobacteria. | protein introns are recently discovered genetic elements whose intervening sequences are removed from a precursor protein by an unusual protein splicing reaction. this involves the excision of a central spacer molecule, the protein intron, and the religation of the amino- and carboxy-terminal fragments of the precursor. the reca gene of mycobacterium tuberculosis contains one such element and we now show that the other major mycobacterial pathogen, mycobacterium leprae, also possesses a protein ... | 1994 | 7508863 |
| genotoxic effects of mycobacterium leprae infection in humans. | 1994 | 7510032 | |
| identification of myelin basic proteins in circulating immune complexes associated with lepromatous leprosy. | circulating immune complexes (cic) were first measured in lepromatous patients (ll) by the 125i-c1q binding assay and the polyethylene glycol (peg) precipitation test. high levels were found by both methods (95 and 90% of positives, respectively). ll-cic were investigated for the presence of neural antigens. cic were precipitated in 3.5% peg, filtered through protein a-sepharose affinity chromatography, eluted with glycine-hcl, ph 2.8, and washed with pbs; fractions after cic dissociation were s ... | 1994 | 7511083 |
| nucleotide sequence and secondary structures of precursor 16s rrna of slow-growing mycobacteria. | slow-growing mycobacteria have a single ribosomal rna (rrn) operon, with the genes for 16s, 23s and 5s rrna being present in that order. the transcription start site of the rrn operon of mycobacterium tuberculosis was identified in escherichia coli. pcr methodology was used to amplify parts of the rrn operon, namely the leader region and the spacer-1 region separating the 16s rrna and 23s rrna genes of mycobacterium avium, mycobacterium paratuberculosis, mycobacterium intracellulare, 'mycobacter ... | 1994 | 7512868 |
| recent trends in rifamycin research. | rifamycin is a clinically useful macrolide antibiotic produced by the gram positive bacterium amycolatopsis mediterranei. this antibiotic is primarily used against mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae, causative agents of tuberculosis and leprosy, respectively. in these bacteria, rifamycin treatment specifically inhibits the initiation of rna synthesis by binding to beta-subunit of rna polymerase. apart from its activity against the bacteria, rifamycin has also been reported to in ... | 1994 | 7513153 |
| cloning and b-cell-epitope mapping of mpt64 from mycobacterium tuberculosis h37rv. | the gene of the immunogenic protein mpt64 found in culture filtrates of mycobacterium tuberculosis h37rv was cloned and sequenced. a comparison showed mpt64 and the gene encoding mpb64 from mycobacterium bovis bcg tokyo to be identical except for one silent mutation. the regions encoding the promoter and the signal peptide were also well conserved for the two sequences. southern blot experiments on genomic mycobacterial dna showed the presence of mpt64 in the m. tuberculosis substrains h37rv, h3 ... | 1994 | 7513311 |
| borderline tuberculoid hansen's disease in aids. | we performed an immunohistochemical analysis of a skin lesion from a patient with aids who had borderline tuberculoid hansen's disease. we also evaluated other laboratory features and performed peripheral blood flow cytometric analysis. the in situ immunologic response to mycobacterium leprae was minimally affected by concomitant infection and immunosuppression by hiv. the skin demonstrated the typical characteristics of borderline tuberculoid lesions. these results indicate that although a pati ... | 1994 | 7513328 |
| [the identification of the antigenic determinants of mycobacterium leprae passed through laboratory animals by using monoclonal antibodies]. | the antigenic preparations of m. leprae isolated from the biopsy leproma material of leprosy patients, m. leprae obtained by passage through laboratory animals (armadillos, rats) and m. lepraemurium have been identified by indirect solid-phase enzyme immunoassay. experiments made with the use of the set of monoclonal antibodies (mcab) to different m. leprae antigenic determinants, supplied by the who bank of monoclonal antibodies (immlep), have demonstrated the presence of common antigenic deter ... | 1994 | 7514328 |
| individuals from different populations identify multiple and diverse t-cell determinants on mycobacterial hsp70. | the 70 kda heat-shock protein (hsp) of mycobacterium leprae stimulates both cellular and antibody responses in leprosy patients and subclinically infected individuals despite partial homology with host hsp70. furthermore, mycobacterial hsp70 can act as a carrier protein in unprimed mice, suggesting the presence of widely shared t-cell determinants on this protein. in order to elucidate the frequency and genetic restriction of these t-cell epitopes, we have undertaken a systematic analysis of the ... | 1994 | 7516574 |
| detection and characterization of a lambda gt11 recombinant clone of m. leprae that expresses an antigenic determinant of a 64-kda protein. | a genomic library of mycobacterium leprae in the expression vector lambda gt11 was screened with rabbit polyclonal hyperimmune antiserum elicited with a sonicated extract of m. leprae. numerous reactive clones were isolated by this immunoscreening, indicating a broad antibody response of the rabbit. none of the recombinant clones was reactive with monoclonal antibodies to the previously well-characterized m. leprae recombinant clones. one of the clones isolated, clone a, encoded a large, 132-143 ... | 1994 | 7519225 |
| antibody response to recombinant 65-kda, 70-kda and 18-kda mycobacterial antigens in leprosy patients and healthy contacts in a leprosy-endemic population. | antibody responses to recombinant mycobacterium leprae 65-kda (rml65) and 18-kda (rml18), m. bovis bcg 65-kda (rmb65) and m. tuberculosis 70-kda (rmt70) antigens were measured by indirect elisa in sera from leprosy patients and healthy contacts in a leprosy-endemic area in southern india. antibody responses to m. leprae-specific epitopes on phenolic glycolipid-i (pgl-i) and a 35-kda protein antigens also were measured simultaneously by pgl-i elisa and the serum antibody competition test (sact), ... | 1994 | 7519226 |
| t-cell-epitope mapping of the major secreted mycobacterial antigen ag85a in tuberculosis and leprosy. | lymphoproliferation and gamma interferon (ifn-gamma) secretion in response to 28 overlapping 20-mer synthetic peptides covering the complete sequence of the mature (295-amino-acid) 85a component of the major secreted, fibronectin-binding antigen 85 complex from mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium bovis bcg (mtag85a) was examined by using peripheral blood mononuclear cell (pbmc) cultures from healthy tuberculin- and lepromin-positive volunteers and from patients with tuberculosis and lep ... | 1994 | 7520418 |
| nucleotide sequences of the spacer-1, spacer-2 and trailer regions of the rrn operons and secondary structures of precursor 23s rrnas and precursor 5s rrnas of slow-growing mycobacteria. | the single ribosomal rna (rrn) operons of slow-growing mycobacteria comprise the genes for 16s, 23s and 5s rrna, in that order. pcr methodology was used to amplify parts of the rrn operons, namely the spacer-1 region separating the 16s rrna and 23s rrna genes and the spacer-2 region separating the 23s rrna and 5s rrna genes of mycobacterium avium, mycobacterium intracellulare, 'mycobacterium lufu' and mycobacterium simiae. the amplified dna was sequenced. the spacer-2 region, the 5s rrna gene, t ... | 1994 | 7521248 |
| reversal of t cell unresponsiveness by augmentation of antigen presenting cell function. | we have previously described epitopes of the 18 kda protein of mycobacterium leprae which stimulate t and b cell responses in different strains of mice. a series of overlapping 20-mer peptides that span the 18 kda protein were used as immunogens to examine t and b cell recognition of different epitopes. strain-specific variation in the epitopes which induce the strongest responses was affected by genes linked to the h-2 complex and the t cell responses revealed by re-challenge with antigen were ... | 1994 | 7521669 |
| identification of a mycobacterium leprae-specific t cell epitope on the 70 kda heat shock protein. | a major antigen of the leprosy bacillus, mycobacterium leprae, is the 70 kda heat shock protein (hsp70), which has significant sequence homology with hsp70 from other mycobacterial species as well as hsp70 from eukaryotes. a unique region of 70 amino acids at the c-terminus of the m. leprae hsp70 has been previously identified. this study investigated whether mice immunized with the c-terminal fragment of m. leprae hsp70 recognize t cell epitopes in this species-specific portion of the molecule. ... | 1994 | 7522215 |
| mycobacterium leprae isolates from different sources have identical sequences of the spacer region between the 16s and 23s ribosomal rna genes. | to test for genotypic variations between different isolates of mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, the 282 bp spacer region between the 16s and 23s rrna genes was amplified using pcr, and submitted to single-strand conformation polymorphism (sscp) analysis. the procedure was optimized using four modified spacer fragments, containing mutations at one, three, four and six positions, respectively. seventy-five m. leprae isolates from different sources, including isolates from lepr ... | 1994 | 7522845 |
| definition of a human suppressor t-cell epitope. | the quality of the response produced by regulatory or helper t (th) cells presently receives much attention because of its possible implications for vaccine development and immunomodulation. apart from cytokines and so-called costimulatory signals, antigens and the presenting major histocompatibility complex (mhc) molecules may play a role in determining the type of t-cell response generated toward antigens. to examine the role of antigen and/or hla in control of t-cell subset activation, we hav ... | 1994 | 7524076 |
| t-cell determinants and antibody binding sites on the major mycobacterial secretory protein mpb59 of mycobacterium bovis. | among the first proteins encountered by the host immune system upon infection or vaccination with mycobacteria are those secreted by the bacillus during growth. the antigen 85 complex of mycobacterium bovis bacillus calmette-gúerin (bcg) is composed of three closely related members. the mature 85b protein of m. bovis (mpb59) has a high degree of amino acid identity with the m. bovis 85a protein (76%) and the mycobacterium tuberculosis 85b (99%) and 85a (76%) proteins. we have examined the region ... | 1994 | 7525483 |
| mapping of multiple hla class ii-restricted t-cell epitopes of the mycobacterial 70-kilodalton heat shock protein. | by combining a dna subclone and synthetic-peptide approach, we mapped epitopes of the immunogenic mycobacterial 70-kda heat shock protein (hsp70) recognized by human cd4+ t-cell clones and lines. in addition, we identified the respective hla-dr molecules used in antigen presentation. the donor groups used were healthy persons immunized with killed mycobacterium leprae and tuberculoid leprosy patients. the results show that the n-terminal part of the hsp70 molecule contains three different t-cell ... | 1994 | 7525484 |
| an hla-drw53-restricted t-cell epitope from a novel mycobacterium leprae protein antigen important to the human memory t-cell repertoire against m. leprae. | cellular immunity mediated by t cells plays a major role in protection against intracellular infections, including leprosy, a chronic disease caused by mycobacterium leprae. in this work, we describe cd4+ t-cell clones, isolated from healthy humans immunized with m. leprae, which recognize a novel m. leprae protein antigen previously isolated from a lambda gt11 dna expression library. on the basis of the deduced primary structure of the carboxyl-terminal part of the antigen, we have used a synth ... | 1994 | 7525488 |
| critical residues of the mycobacterium leprae lsr recombinant protein discriminate clinical activity in erythema nodosum leprosum reactions. | we reported earlier (s. singh, n. p. shanker narayan, p. j. jenner, g. ramu, m. j. colston, h. k. prasad, and i. nath, infect. immun. 62:86-90, 1994) that polyclonal antibodies directed against selective sequences in the mycobacterium leprae recombinant protein designated lsr were present in lepromatous leprosy patients undergoing erythema nodosum leprosum (enl) reactions (type 2 reactions). in this study using peptides with single-residue deletions from positions 6 to 24, we define three distin ... | 1994 | 7525491 |
| sera of leprosy patients with type 2 reactions recognize selective sequences in mycobacterium leprae recombinant lsr protein. | type 2 reactions (erythema nodosum leprosum [enl]) are episodic, reactional states causing significant morbidity in lepromatous leprosy patients. with a view to defining the immunological differences between the stable and reactional forms of lepromatous leprosy, we determined antibody responses to lsr, a recombinant protein of mycobacterium leprae previously described by us (s. laal, y.d. sharma, h.k. prasad, a. murtaza, s. singh, s. tangri, r. s. mishra, and i. nath, proc. natl. acad. sci. usa ... | 1994 | 7505263 |
| identification of an antigenic domain on mycobacterium leprae protein antigen 85b, which is specifically recognized by antibodies from patients with leprosy. | sixty-three overlapping 15-oligomer peptides covering the 30-kda protein antigen 85b of mycobacterium leprae were tested by elisa to identify epitopes recognized by human antibodies. serum samples from patients with lepromatous leprosy (ll) reacted mainly with peptides comprising amino acid regions (aa) 206-230, 251-280, and 291-325. sera of patients with active tuberculosis who responded to the native 30-kda antigen did not recognize these peptides. the antibody-binding specificity to the defin ... | 1994 | 7506279 |
| immunological analysis of the components of the antigen complex a60 of mycobacterium bovis bcg. | the antigen complex of a60 of mycobacterium bovis bcg was analyzed by different immunological techniques to assess its relevance to tuberculosis and the involvement of its components in the immune reactions elicited in humans by tuberculous infection. a60 is composed of about 30 components, of which 8 were identified by available monoclonal antibodies (lipoarabinomannan, a glycolipid, and proteins of 65, 40, 38, 35, 19, and 14 kda). the majority (87.5%) of anti-mycobacterial antibodies in sera f ... | 1994 | 7496934 |
| nodular lepromatous leprosy: report of a case diagnosed by fna. | lepromatous leprosy can present with skin nodules which can be misdiagnosed as soft tissue tumors or infected cysts. fna can be diagnostic if unstained, refractile, intracellular mycobacteria are recognized on romanowsky stained smears. fite stain for mycobacterium leprae confirms the diagnosis. awareness of the differential diagnosis of skin nodules yielding foamy histiocytes on fna, briefly discussed, should help avoid error. | 1994 | 7534683 |
| detection of mycobacterium leprae by three-primer pcr. | recently, polymerase chain reaction has been introduced for the species-specific assessment of mycobacterium leprae (1). to avoid southern blotting techniques using radioactively labelled oligonucleotide probes, the aim of this study was to establish a three primer-based single-step pcr technique. using primers designed for this purpose we amplified a part of the gene encoding for the 16s ribosomal rna of slowly growing mycobacteria. due to the species-specific antisense primer a second, smaller ... | 1994 | 7536184 |
| [diagnosis, therapy and prognosis of atypical mycobacterial infections--results of a retrospective study]. | the most important mycobacteria causing disease in humans are mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae. these germs contrast the so-called atypical mycobacteria. the importance of the atypical mycobacteria was recognized in the fifties. even if the quantity of atypical mycobacterial disease has increased during the last decades in germany, it is still a rare disease today, but it is seen in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome more often nowadays. in the period from 1st ja ... | 1994 | 7800676 |
| development of an in vitro drug screening system for mycobacterium leprae based on the determination of the intrabacterial sodium to potassium ratio of individual bacterial organisms. | in vitro drug effects on mycobacterium leprae (m. leprae) in a cell-free system have been monitored by mass spectrometric determination of the ratio of the intrabacterial concentrations of the sodium and potassium ions (na(+), k(+) ratio) of a limited number of individual bacteria per sample. from the drug-induced increase of the median values of the distributions of the na(+), k(+) ratio, information on the concentration and time dependence of drug effects as well as on antagonistic or synergis ... | 1994 | 18611617 |
| leprosy in malaysia. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease and is still a public health problem in malaysia. in 1926, the leper enactment act was established which required compulsory notification and isolation of leprosy patients. as a result, the national leprosy control centre (nlcc) was built in sungai buloh, selangor. in 1969, the national leprosy control programme was launched with the objective of early case finding and decentralisation of treatment of leprosy. the treatment of leprosy patients is integrate ... | 1994 | 16329568 |
| sustained t-cell reactivity to mycobacterium tuberculosis specific antigens in 'split-anergic' leprosy. | split anergy represented by delayed-type hypersensitivity skin reaction to tuberculin, but not to leprosin, is known to occur in a distinct proportion of leprosy patients. the mechanism was originally attributed to mycobacterium leprae-specific suppression of t cells toward common mycobacterial antigens. this study ascertained an alternative explanation, attributing the phenomenon to selective responsiveness to m. tuberculosis-specific epitopes. indeed, the results of blood t-cell proliferative ... | 1995 | 7537350 |
| recognition of mycobacterium leprae recombinant 18,000 mw epitopes by igg subclasses in leprosy. | igg subclasses are known to be differentially regulated by cytokines (elaborated by activated t cells), which act as growth factors and immunoglobulin switch factors on b cells. in leprosy, we have previously shown that igg subclass antibodies to a purified recombinant antigen of mycobacterium leprae (18,000 mw) are restricted to igg1 and igg3 across the disease spectrum. the only significant difference observed was that lepromatous patients with low to undetectable t-cell responses showed a str ... | 1995 | 7538491 |
| [biological properties of m. leprae passaged in laboratory animals]. | 1995 | 7539910 | |
| cd1-restricted t cell recognition of microbial lipoglycan antigens. | it has long been the paradigm that t cells recognize peptide antigens presented by major histocompatibility complex (mhc) molecules. however, nonpeptide antigens can be presented to t cells by human cd1b molecules, which are not encoded by the mhc. a major class of microbial antigens associated with pathogenicity are lipoglycans. it is shown here that human cd1b presents the defined mycobacterial lipoglycan lipoarabinomannan (lam) to alpha beta t cell receptor-bearing lymphocytes. presentation o ... | 1995 | 7542404 |