Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year(sorted descending) Filter | PMID Filter |
|---|
| cloning of the o-acetylserine lyase gene from the ruminal bacterium selenomonas ruminantium hd4. | the gene coding for o-acetylserine lyase (oasl) was cloned from a selenomonas ruminantium hd4 lambda zap ii genomic library by degenerative probe hybridization and complementation. sequence analysis revealed a 933 bp orf with a g + c content of 53%. the orf had significant homology with enzymes involved in cysteine biosynthesis. a curablastn homology search showed that the orf shared 59% nucleotide identity with the cysk of bacillus subtilis. the deduced amino acid sequence exhibited high (>70%) ... | 2002 | 11821922 |
| management of erythema nodosum leprosum by thalidomide: thalidomide analogues inhibit m. leprae-induced tnfalpha production in vitro. | thalidomide is being successfully used for the treatment of erythema nodosum leprosum (enl), among other disorders with inflammatory and immunological bases. although the active molecules responsible for the diverse therapeutic activities of the drug and the sequence of reactions triggered inside the cells remain unclear, it was demonstrated that thalidomide (thal) inhibits tnfalpha mrna expression and protein production by stimulated monocytes and activated t lymphocytes. patients treated with ... | 2002 | 11905505 |
| royal society of tropical medicine and hygiene meeting at manson house, london, 18th january 2001. pathogen genomes and human health. mycobacterial genomics. | the small size of their genomes made bacterial ideal model organisms for the emerging field of genomics. elucidating the genome sequences of mycobacteria was particularly attractive owing to the difficulties inherent in their manipulation. the slow growth rate, clumping, and requirement for category iii containment make manipulation of mycobacterium tuberculosis-complex strains laborious. m. leprae presents even greater problems as it has resisted all attempts at axenic culture. availability of ... | 2002 | 11925980 |
| identification and characterization of the esat-6 homologue of mycobacterium leprae and t-cell cross-reactivity with mycobacterium tuberculosis. | in this paper we describe identification and characterization of mycobacterium leprae esat-6 (l-esat-6), the homologue of m. tuberculosis esat-6 (t-esat-6). t-esat-6 is expressed by all pathogenic strains belonging to the m. tuberculosis complex but is absent from virtually all other mycobacterial species, and it is a promising antigen for immunodiagnosis of tuberculosis (tb). therefore, we analyzed whether l-esat-6 is a similarly powerful tool for the study of leprosy by examining t-cell respon ... | 2002 | 11953394 |
| rifampicin resistant leprosy: a review and a research proposal of a pilot study. | 2002 | 11969122 | |
| typing of clinical isolates of mycobacterium leprae and their distribution in korea. | although there is no genetic diversity in isolates of mycobacterium leprae, the variance of tandem repeats in the rpot gene was recently demonstrated. we have typed clinical isolates of m. leprae in korea using difference of the tandem repeats in the rpot gene. among 69 patients, 65 korean isolates (94.2%) demonstrated four copies of the 6 bp tandem repeat (gacatc) in the rpot gene, and incidences of three copies were found in only two koreans and two foreigners (2.9%, respectively). | 2002 | 11969125 |
| bacterial index of granuloma and its relevance compared to bi of skin smears. | 2002 | 11969131 | |
| progress towards development of immunoassays for detection of mycobacterium leprae infection, employing 35kda antigen: an update. | the 35 kda antigen of mycobacterium leprae is a membrane component that contains both b and t-cell stimulating epitopes. monoclonal antibodies, primarily specific to m. leprae, have been developed against this antigen. moreover, this antigen has been genetically engineered. using recombinant 35 kda antigen and/or a monoclonal antibody against an epitope on 35 kda, a variety of antibody/antigen detecting tests have been described for detection of m. leprae infection. 35 kda protein also stimulate ... | 2002 | 11969136 |
| reactive nitrogen and oxygen intermediates and bacterial defenses: unusual adaptations in mycobacterium tuberculosis. | the production of reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen intermediates is an important host defense mechanism mediated in response to infection by bacterial pathogens. not surprisingly, intracellular pathogens have evolved numerous defense strategies to protect themselves against the damaging effects of these agents. in enteric bacteria, exposure to oxidative or nitrosative stress induces expression of numerous pathways that allow the bacterium to resist the toxic effects of these compounds durin ... | 2002 | 11970850 |
| ifn-gamma and no in mycobacterial disease: new jobs for old hands. | granulomatous disease following exposure to mycobacterium tuberculosis, mycobacterium leprae or mycobacterium avium is correlated with strong inflammatory and protective responses. the mouse model of mycobacterial infection provides an excellent tool with which to examine the inter-relationship between protective cell-mediated immunity and tissue-damaging hypersensitivity. it is well established that t cells and interferon (ifn)-gamma are necessary components of anti-bacterial protection. we pro ... | 2002 | 11973155 |
| spoilt for choice: protein target selection in a time of plenty. | experiences in the application of boolean logic to the clusters of orthologous groups of proteins (cogs) database for target selection in the mycobacterium tuberculosis genome are described. | 2002 | 11976509 |
| [leprosy reactions]. | in leprosy, the causative bacteria, mycobacterium leprae, will not threaten the lives of the hosts directly because they proliferate only slowly in the schwann cells of the peripheral nerves. it is the "reactions" which give the patients irreversible morbidity through the inflammatory damages to the peripheral nerves. physicians should be aware of the possibility of the state of the "reaction" when they examine leprosy patients. they also should be aware of the possibility of leprosy and the sta ... | 2002 | 11979755 |
| prevention of diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice by a single immunization with mycobacterium leprae. | the incidence of overt diabetes was completely prevented by a single intradermal inoculation of mycobacterium leprae (m. leprae) into non-obese diabetic (nod) mice as young as 6-7 weeks. partial prevention was also observed in cases when 65 kd heat-shock protein (hsp65) with freund's incomplete adjuvant (fia) was injected, and no prevention was observed by 38 kd with fia immunization. histological examination of pancreata demonstrated that control and m. leprae-immunized mice at 24 weeks of age ... | 2002 | 11979756 |
| [susceptibility to mycobacterium leprae of congenic hypertensive nude rat (shr/ncrj-rnu) and production of cytokine from the resident peritoneal macrophages]. | we have established a congenic hypertensive nude rat strain, shr/ncrj-rnu, carrying nude (rnu) and hypertension genes which was produced using females of the shr/ncrj rat and males of the f344/njcl nude rat by cross-intercross system for 12 generations. we demonstrated the susceptibility to m. leprae infection of shr/ncrj-rnu rats as compared with f344/njcl-rnu rats. shr/ncrj-rnu rats were highly susceptible to m. leprae, and the shr/ncrj-rnu rats of both sexes showed massive swelling of legs du ... | 2002 | 11979757 |
| human t cell responses to peptides of the mycobacterium leprae 45-kd serine-rich antigen. | in order to identify t cell epitopes within the mycobacterium leprae 45-kd serine-rich antigen, we analysed responses to overlapping 17-mer peptides encompassing the whole antigen in non-exposed uk controls, pakistani leprosy patients and tuberculosis patients in both the united kingdom and pakistan. this antigen has been described as m. leprae-specific, although it has a hypothetical homologue in m. tuberculosis. human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated with peptide for 5 days a ... | 2002 | 11982601 |
| microbiology. subversion of schwann cells and the leper's bell. | 2002 | 11988561 | |
| contact-dependent demyelination by mycobacterium leprae in the absence of immune cells. | demyelination results in severe disability in many neurodegenerative diseases and nervous system infections, and it is typically mediated by inflammatory responses. mycobacterium leprae, the causative organism of leprosy, induced rapid demyelination by a contact-dependent mechanism in the absence of immune cells in an in vitro nerve tissue culture model and in rag1-knockout (rag1-/-) mice, which lack mature b and t lymphocytes. myelinated schwann cells were resistant to m. leprae invasion but un ... | 2002 | 11988579 |
| dna-pcr and rt-pcr for the 18-kda gene of mycobacterium leprae to assess the efficacy of multi-drug therapy for leprosy. | dna-pcr and reverse transcription (rt)-pcr for the 18-kda protein of mycobacterium leprae were used to examine the efficacy of multi-drug therapy (mdt) in leprosy. mdt was administered for 0-24 months. fourteen (63.6%) of 22 patients showed positive pcr results after treatment for 12 months and the positive results decreased to 30% after 24 months of mdt. these results did not correlate with the bacterial index (bi) or the igm antibody titre for the phenolic glycolipid (pgl)-1. one-dimensional d ... | 2002 | 11990494 |
| [the discovery of the leprosy bacillus]. | gerhard henrik armauer hansen (1841-1912) worked on leprosy throughout his career. following his discovery of the leprosy bacillus in 1873, he proposed legislation that, when enacted in 1877 and 1885, established preventive measures aimed at isolating infectious patients. around 1920, leprosy was more or less eradicated in norway after a period of decline starting in 1850. over this period, more than 8,000 cases were registered. armauer hansen's unique research achievement was based on a scienti ... | 2002 | 11998735 |
| ddt inhibits the functional activation of murine macrophages and decreases resistance to infection by mycobacterium microti. | ddt is still widely used in several parts of the world to control malaria, typhoid and dengue vectors, even though its use was banned in many countries based on toxicity data in wild life species. ddt has been shown to have immunotoxic effects in mice and to increase susceptibility to intracellular pathogens such as mycobacterium leprae. however, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this effect. activated macrophages play an important defensive role against intracellular pathogens, th ... | 2002 | 12007859 |
| [speech of sakurane award recipient: pcr in leprosy]. | 2002 | 12013817 | |
| [genomic evolution of pathogenic bacteria and horizontal gene transfer]. | 2002 | 12013818 | |
| simplified pcr detection method for nasal mycobacterium leprae. | we report here a simplified method for the detection of nasal carriage of mycobacterium leprae. dna extracted from nasal swabs was analyzed by pcr, and m. leprae specific amplicons detected by means of a novel peptide-nucleic-acid-elisa (pna-elisa) method. parameters for the method were established using swabs taken from untreated lepromatous leprosy patients. we have developed this method to study nasal carriage in endemic populations. however, due to the sensitivity of pcr based techniques, we ... | 2001 | 12035291 |
| analysis of quantitative relationship between viability determination in leprosy by mfp, atp bioluminescence and gene amplification assay. | two hundred twenty-one untreated, borderline lepromatous/lepromatous (bl/ll) leprosy patients have been investigated for viability by the mouse foot pad method (mfp), adenosine triphosphate (atp) and polymerase chain reaction (pcr). the biopsies were collected at the beginning of and 12/24 months after treatment. the patient group was treated with a) immunotherapy (bcg/mw) + mdt; b) mdt + pyrazinamide; c) control mdt; d) mdt + minocycline 100 mg once a month supervised + ofloxacin 400 mg once a ... | 2001 | 12035294 |
| biochemical aspects of mycobacterium leprae binding proteins: a review of their role in pathogenesis. | 2001 | 12035295 | |
| where are the pseudogenes in bacterial genomes? | most bacterial genomes have very few pseudogenes; notable exceptions include the genomes of the intracellular parasites rickettsia prowazekii and mycobacterium leprae. as dna can be introduced into microbial genomes in many ways, the compact nature of these genomes suggests that the rate of dna influx is balanced by the rate of dna deletion. we propose that the influx of dangerous genetic elements such as transposons and bacteriophages selects for the maintenance of relatively high deletion rate ... | 2001 | 11825713 |
| mycobacterium leprae genome sequence; a landmark achievement. | 2001 | 11826474 | |
| the decaying genome of mycobacterium leprae. | everything that we need to know about mycobacterium leprae, a close relative of the tubercle bacillus, is encrypted in its genome. inspection of the 3.27 mb genome sequence of an armadillo-derived indian isolate of the leprosy bacillus identified 1,605 genes encoding proteins and 50 genes for stable rna species. comparison with the genome sequence of mycobacterium tuberculosis revealed an extreme case of reductive evolution, since less than half of the genome contains functional genes while inac ... | 2001 | 11826475 |
| the microbial physiologist's guide to the leprosy genome. | 2001 | 11826476 | |
| dna metabolism in mycobacterium leprae. | 2001 | 11826477 | |
| genomic evidence for the retention of the essential mycobacterial cell wall in the otherwise defective mycobacterium leprae. | the obligate intracellularism of mycobacterium leprae may be attributable to the effects of mutations in major metabolic areas due to a genome capable of encoding only about 1600 proteins. yet cell wall biosynthesis capability remains relatively intact and comparisons with the genome of mycobacterium tuberculosis provide insights into the genetic basis of a minimal mycobacterial cell wall. | 2001 | 11826478 |
| genomics and the chemotherapy of leprosy. | the information deduced from the genome sequence of mycobacterium leprae is of immense value for the chemotherapy of leprosy. knowing the complete set of genes, enzymes and proteins allows us to understand why some drugs are without effect whereas others are fully active. it may also enable better use to be made of existing drugs, such as beta-lactams, and opens new avenues for the development of novel compounds. m. leprae is relatively susceptible to a wide range of drugs, unlike the highly rel ... | 2001 | 11826479 |
| a method for rapid detection of rifampicin-resistant isolates of mycobacterium leprae. | a genotypic method for predicting rifampicin resistance in mycobacterium leprae has been developed and rigorously tested on mouse footpad-derived and clinical specimens. a series of immobilized oligonucleotide capture probes can discriminate between wild type and mutant rpob alleles, and positive controls are available for the most frequent mutation affecting ser425. two different non-radioactive detection formats have been tested with comparable success in both an industrialized and a developin ... | 2001 | 11826480 |
| repetitive sequences in mycobacterium leprae and their impact on genome plasticity. | about 2% of the genome of mycobacterium leprae is composed of repetitive dna. there are more than 26 extinct is elements together with four families of dispersed repeats, present in five copies or more, rlep (37 copies), replep (15 copies), leprep (eight copies), and leprpt (five copies). although there is no sequence similarity to known transposable elements, rlep occurs predominantly at the 3'-end of genes and, in several cases, within pseudogenes, suggesting that it was capable of disseminati ... | 2001 | 11826481 |
| the integrated genome map of mycobacterium leprae. | the integrated map of the mycobacterium leprae genome unveiled for the first time the genomic organization of this obligate intracellular parasite. selected cosmid clones, isolated from a genomic library created in the cosmid vector lorist6, were identified as representing nearly the complete genome and were subsequently used in the m. leprae genome sequencing project. now a new version of the integrated map of m. leprae can be presented, combining the mapping results from the lorist6 cosmids wi ... | 2001 | 11826482 |
| leproma: a mycobacterium leprae genome browser. | 2001 | 11826483 | |
| comparative study of anti-pgl-1, anti-35 kda and anti-lipoarabinomannan assays for serodiagnosis of leprosy. | three antibody assays (anti-pgl-1, anti-35 kda and anti-lam) were used to determine the levels of antibodies in the sera of untreated leprosy patients. all the three assays showed higher levels of antibodies in bl/ll patients as compared to i and tt/bt patients, as well as healthy controls. bl/ll patients showed positivity of 100%, 84.2% and 78.9% by anti-pgl-1, anti-35 kda and anti-lam assays respectively. all the three assays were negative for leprosy in healthy controls. anti-pgl-1 assay was ... | 2001 | 11840595 |
| poor correlation of systemic immunological parameters with clinical features in macular leprosy. | on the basis of clinical features and bacteriological status, macular skin lesions of nine cases of leprosy were classified as falling within a spectrum between the tuberculoid at one end and the lepromatous at the other. while histologic correlation was seen in 60% of cases, humoral and cellular systemic immunologic features were found to be uncharacteristic. it is suggested that macular lesions form an early stage in the development of leprosy where the systemic immunological response is yet t ... | 2001 | 11840596 |
| persisting m. leprae in a nerve in the pampiniform plexus of a lepromatous patient: an unusual finding. | 2001 | 11840600 | |
| characterization of p55, a multidrug efflux pump in mycobacterium bovis and mycobacterium tuberculosis. | the mycobacterium bovis p55 gene, located downstream from the gene that encodes the immunogenic lipoprotein p27, has been characterized. the gene was identical to the open reading frame of the rv1410c gene in the genome of mycobacterium tuberculosis h37rv, annotated as a probable drug efflux protein. genes similar to p55 were present in all species of the m. tuberculosis complex and other mycobacteria such as mycobacterium leprae and mycobacterium avium. by western blotting, p55 was located in t ... | 2001 | 11181364 |
| utility of fine-needle aspiration cytology in the classification of leprosy. | the role of fine-needle aspiration cytology (fnac) in the diagnosis of benign skin lesions has been restricted primarily to the evaluation of bacteriologic and morphologic indices in leprosy. this study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of fnac in the diagnosis and classification of lepromatous lesions. aspirates of 94 newly diagnosed cases of leprosy were studied, and the bacterial load was determined by modified ziehl-neelsen (zn) stain. a skin biopsy was taken from the same site at the ... | 2001 | 11335960 |
| the heat shock response of fusobacterium nucleatum. | the heat-shock response of the oral gram-negative bacterium fusobacterium nucleatum was examined. different strains of f. nucleatum were grown at 37 c. 42 degrees c and 48 c in the presence of [35s]methionine. cellular proteins synthesised after shifts to higher temperatures were analysed by sds-page and autoradiography. strains atcc 10953, f1, f3 and fev1 exhibited heat-shock response, and major proteins were observed at 60, 70 and 90 kda. but increased protein synthesis was also observed for o ... | 2001 | 11767277 |
| [comparative characterization of the antigenic composition of m. leprae and m. lufu]. | the antigenic structure of m. leprae and m. lufu was comparatively studied for the first time. m. lufu was found to have m. leprae-specific protein with a molecular weight of 36 kda. m. leprae and m. lufu were similar in their fractional composition of proteins and an antibody response to determinants with equal molecular weights in patients with different forms of leprosy and its varying severity. the findings may improve a diagnostic system in leprosy by using m. lufu antigens as an alternativ ... | 2001 | 11767394 |
| leprosy. oldest and most feared disease. | 2001 | 11784588 | |
| detection of mycobacterium leprae dna by polymerase chain reaction in the blood of individuals, eight years after completion of anti-leprosy therapy. | thirty eight patients with indeterminate leprosy (hi), at least 4 to 6 years after discharge from multibacillary (mb) or paucibacillary (pb) schemes of anti leprosy multidrug therapy (mdt), were submitted to traditional diagnostic procedures for leprosy and to polymerase chain reaction (pcr) analysis of different clinical samples for detection of mycobacterium leprae dna. no significant difference was observed for any of the parameters analyzed between pb or mb schemes of treatment and no indica ... | 2001 | 11784934 |
| mycobacterium leprae and leprosy: a compendium. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, which was discovered by g.h.a. hansen in 1873. m. leprae is an exceptional bacterium because of its long generation time and no growth in artificial media. entire sequencing of the bacterial genome revealed numerous pseudogenes (inactive reading frames with functional counterparts in m. tuberculosis) which might be responsible for the very limited metabolic activity of m. leprae. the clinical demonstration of the disease is ... | 2001 | 11791665 |
| short report: do intestinal nematodes increase the risk for multibacillary leprosy? | intestinal helminths are known to subvert the host's immune response towards a th2 response, which in turn may lead to both eosinophilia and high immunoglobulin e titers often associated with these parasites. mycobacterium leprae infection may lead to different clinical and pathological forms. multibacillary forms are associated with th2 cytokines, whereas paucibacillary forms are associated with th1 cytokines. we report a significantly higher frequency of intestinal helminthic infections in pat ... | 2001 | 11791986 |
| expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and nitrotyrosine in borderline leprosy lesions. | in the response to t-helper cell (th1)-type cytokines and interactions with pathogens, high levels of nitric oxide (no) are produced by activated macrophages expressing the inducible no synthase (inos). the role and importance of reactive nitrogen intermediates (rnis) such as no and peroxynitrite in the host response to diseases caused by intracellular pathogens such as mycobacterium leprae and m. tuberculosis is unclear. | 2001 | 11736907 |
| comparative protective effects of recombinant dna and mycobacterium bovis bacille calmette-guérin vaccines against m. avium infection. | a range of strategies are being explored to develop more effective vaccines against mycobacterial infection, including immunization with dna plasmids encoding single mycobacterial bacterial genes and the use of recombinant live vectors based on the current vaccine, mycobacterium bovis bacille calmette-guérin (bcg). we have compared these two approaches using a model of virulent m. avium infection, and the gene for the immunodominant 35 kda protein which is shared by m. avium and m. leprae, but a ... | 2001 | 11737066 |
| a plea to revive skin smear examination. | 2001 | 11757169 | |
| leprosy with peripheral t-cell lymphoma: a rare association. | 2001 | 11757170 | |
| vaccination with dna of the mycobacterium tuberculosis 85b antigen protects mouse foot pad against infection with m. leprae. | a dna vaccine composed of the gene for the common mycobacterial secreted protein antigen 85b was demonstrated to protect the mouse foot pad against infection with mycobacterium leprae. the protective effect was demonstrated by a 61%-88% reduction in the bacterial number, a protective effect less than that of bcg. the same dna vaccine has been shown to protect mice against m. tuberculosis infection, and the importance of testing other candidate tuberculosis vaccines for their potential to protect ... | 2001 | 11757171 |
| no evidence of linkage between mitsuda reaction and the nramp1 locus. | thirty sib-pairs were ascertained through unrelated lepromatous probands. they consisted of 22 healthy individuals and 8 leprosy patients. the mitsuda reactions of all sibs were evaluated both macroscopically and histologically, and high molecular weight genomic dna was extracted from the white blood cells of all sib-pairs. three dna polymorphisms identified by polymerase chain reaction (274c/t, d543n, 1729 + 55del4) were used as chromosome markers at the nramp1 locus. sib-pair comparisons did n ... | 2001 | 11757172 |
| south india immunoprophylaxis trial against leprosy: relevance of findings in the context of leprosy trends. | 2001 | 11757173 | |
| newer drugs in leprosy. | during the last 15 years, new drugs active against mycobacterium leprae have been identified. all of them belong to the fluoroquinolone, cycline and macrolide drug families. in the mouse model and in humans, minocycline, ofloxacin, and clarithromycin have demonstrated, individually or in combination, antileprosy activities much superior to those of the standard drugs dapsone and clofazimine. in humans, a single dose of the combination ofloxacin 400 mg + minocycline 100 mg was able to kill 68% to ... | 2001 | 11757174 |
| pathology and pathogenesis of leprous neuritis; a preventable and treatable complication. | in conclusion, it may be said that many advances have been made in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of nerve damage. it is now a well accepted fact that the affinity of m. leprae for schwann cells and the property of m. leprae to grow in cooler sites of the body have made certain segments of nerve trunks vulnerable. trauma that supervenes the inflammation and swelling severely aggravates the nerve damage. the reactive phase in all forms of leprosy, the etiology of which is not clearly und ... | 2001 | 11757175 |
| immunopathology of leprosy; a state of the art. | 2001 | 11757177 | |
| drug targeting mycobacterium tuberculosis cell wall synthesis: genetics of dtdp-rhamnose synthetic enzymes and development of a microtiter plate-based screen for inhibitors of conversion of dtdp-glucose to dtdp-rhamnose. | an l-rhamnosyl residue plays an essential structural role in the cell wall of mycobacterium tuberculosis. therefore, the four enzymes (rmla to rmld) that form dtdp-rhamnose from dttp and glucose-1-phosphate are important targets for the development of new tuberculosis therapeutics. m. tuberculosis genes encoding rmla, rmlc, and rmld have been identified and expressed in escherichia coli. it is shown here that genes for only one isotype each of rmla to rmld are present in the m. tuberculosis geno ... | 2001 | 11302803 |
| connectivity patterns in tuberculosis and leprosy patients are indistinguishable from that of healthy donors. | connectivity, the self-defined interactions between antigen-recognising molecules in a network system can in part be assessed by measuring the reactivity of a given serum against an ordered set of immunoglobulin (ig)g f(ab')2 fractions, separated by means of isoelectric focusing so that, the serum reactivity against the whole set of fractions defines a characteristic pattern of connectivity. deviations from the normal condition (healthy donors) have so far been documented for two autoimmune dise ... | 2001 | 11309162 |
| characterization and expression of seca in mycobacterium avium. | mycobacterium avium is both a pathogen that infects several hosts such as humans, pigs, and birds, as well as a microorganism that is encountered in environmental sources (soil and water). protein secretion by the bacterium is likely to influence its ability to overcome adverse and competitive conditions both within or outside the host. using a combination of cloning and information available in the databank, we characterized the seca gene from m. avium, encoding for a major preprotein transloca ... | 2001 | 11313128 |
| relapses in leprosy patients treated with rifampicin plus dapsone after varying periods of dapsone monotherapy. | leprosy patients treated formerly with dapsone monotherapy followed by combined therapy with rifampicin plus dapsone were surveyed for relapse and rifampicin resistance. the relapse rate was significantly low for the 482 multibacillary (mb) patients receiving > 12 months combined therapy compared with the 49 mb cases receiving < 12 months of combined therapy. the relapse rate was related to the duration of dapsone monotherapy prior to combined therapy. the difference in relapse rate in 247 pauci ... | 2001 | 11326592 |
| polyunsaturated fatty acids levels in edible oils: a nutritional factor contributing to the growth of mycobacterium leprae. | 2001 | 11326602 | |
| presence of human t-cell responses to the mycobacterium leprae 45-kilodalton antigen reflects infection with or exposure to m. leprae. | the ability of the 45-kda serine-rich mycobacterium leprae antigen to stimulate peripheral blood mononuclear cell (pbmc) proliferation and gamma interferon (ifn-gamma) production was measured in leprosy patients, household contacts, and healthy controls from areas of endemicity in mexico. almost all the tuberculoid leprosy patients gave strong pbmc proliferation responses to the m. leprae 45-kda antigen (92.8%; n = 14). responses were lower in lepromatous leprosy patients (60.6%; n = 34), but so ... | 2001 | 11329466 |
| lysis of autologous macrophages pulsed with hsp10 from mycobacterium leprae is associated to the absence of bacilli in leprosy. | peripheral blood mononuclear cells from leprosy patients and normal individuals were analysed for their ability to lyse autologous macrophages pulsed with the mycobacterium leprae 10 kda heat shock protein (hsp10), an antigen considered to have an important role in the protective responses in leprosy. strong cytotoxic responses, with an involvement of gammadelta t and class-i and class-ii restricted alphabeta t cells and/or cd16+56+ cells, were observed in normal individuals, paucibacillary (pb) ... | 2001 | 11222914 |
| protective responses against experimental mycobacterium leprae infection in mice induced by recombinant bacillus calmette-guérin over-producing three putative protective antigen candidates. | the components of ag85 (ag85a, ag85b, and ag85c) are putative protective antigen candidates against mycobacterial infection. a recombinant mycobacterium bovis bacillus calmette-guérin (rbcg) over-producing ag85a, ag85b, and mpb51 (rbcg/ba51) was constructed. rbcg/ba51 could secrete these antigens at levels more than five times higher than parental bcg. immunization of c57bl/6 and balb/c mice with this rbcg reduced the multiplication of mycobacterium leprae in the foot pads of both strains of mic ... | 2001 | 11228360 |
| immunoresititution disease in relation to infection with mycobacterium avium complex and to leprosy. | 2001 | 11229860 | |
| development of a species-specific pcr assay for detection of leishmania donovani in clinical samples from patients with kala-azar and post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis. | we have developed a pcr assay that is capable of amplifying kinetoplast dna (kdna) of leishmania donovani in a species-specific manner among old world leishmanias. with indian strains and isolates of l. donovani the assay was sensitive enough to detect kdna in an amount equivalent to a single parasite or less. the extreme sensitivity of the assay was reflected in its ability to detect parasite dna from small volumes of peripheral blood of patients with kala-azar (ka) and from skin lesions from p ... | 2001 | 11230394 |
| massive gene decay in the leprosy bacillus. | leprosy, a chronic human neurological disease, results from infection with the obligate intracellular pathogen mycobacterium leprae, a close relative of the tubercle bacillus. mycobacterium leprae has the longest doubling time of all known bacteria and has thwarted every effort at culture in the laboratory. comparing the 3.27-megabase (mb) genome sequence of an armadillo-derived indian isolate of the leprosy bacillus with that of mycobacterium tuberculosis (4.41 mb) provides clear explanations f ... | 2001 | 11234002 |
| evaluation of b7-1 (cd80) and b7-2 (cd86) costimulatory molecules and dendritic cells on the immune response in leprosy. | the cell activation depends on t cell antigen receptor binding to antigen plus mhc and costimulation. the binding of cd28, expressed on the t cell surface to b7 (b7-1 or cd80/b7-2 or cd86) present on the antigen--presenting cells (apcs), determines, in several t cell function models, if activation or anergy follows antigenic stimulation. in leprosy, the role of cd80 and cd86 as costimulatory signal in m. leprae-specific cellular immunity has not yet been defined. we investigated the role of b7-c ... | 2001 | 11244783 |
| [pcr in leprosy]. | detection of m. leprae dna using pcr is very sensitive enough to detect very few number of bacilli which are not recognized by acid-fast staining method. because the detection of m. leprae is crucial for the diagnosis of leprosy, pcr method has been expected to make a diagnosis easy and precise. a new pair of pcr primers for m. lepare was selected in the department of dermatology, yokohama city university school of medicine, and many samples obtained from many institutes have been examined in th ... | 2001 | 11244785 |
| identification and characterization of a gene encoding a 35-kda protein from mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis. | mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis is the causative agent of johne's disease, a chronic enteritis in ruminants. a gene homologous to that of 35-kda antigen of mycobacterium leprae was cloned and sequenced from mycobacterium paratuberculosis. the database searches revealed 82.79% and 95.67% similarities of its nucleotide sequence, with those of immunodominant 35-kda protein of m. leprae and m. avium, respectively. | 2001 | 11267779 |
| [late reversal leprous reaction appearing 18 months after the termination of treatment]. | 2001 | 11268894 | |
| a major susceptibility locus for leprosy in india maps to chromosome 10p13. | leprosy, a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, is prevalent in india, where about half of the world's estimated 800,000 cases occur. a role for the genetics of the host in variable susceptibility to leprosy has been indicated by familial clustering, twin studies, complex segregation analyses and human leukocyte antigen (hla) association studies. we report here a genetic linkage scan of the genomes of 224 families from south india, containing 245 independent affected sibpai ... | 2001 | 11279529 |
| hansen's disease in a native-born, united states resident, after a brief stay in an endemic area abroad. | 2001 | 11285160 | |
| further biochemical characterization of mycobacterium leprae laminin-binding proteins. | it has been demonstrated that the alpha2 chain of laminin-2 present on the surface of schwann cells is involved in the process of attachment of mycobacterium leprae to these cells. searching for m. leprae laminin-binding molecules, in a previous study we isolated and characterized the cationic proteins histone-like protein (hlp) and ribosomal proteins s4 and s5 as potential adhesins involved in m. leprae-schwann cell interaction. hlp was shown to bind alpha2-laminins and to greatly enhance the a ... | 2001 | 11285456 |
| m. leprae genome sequence. | 2001 | 11286866 | |
| mycobacterium leprae and mycobacterium lepraemurium infections in domestic and wild animals. | mycobacterium leprae, the aetiological agent of leprosy in humans, gives rise to a chronic granulomatous disease that affects primarily the skin and peripheral nerves, and secondarily some internal organs such as the testis and the eye; viscera are seldom involved. depending on host resistance, leprosy may present as a benign disease (tuberculoid leprosy) or as a malignant disease (lepromatous leprosy), with a spectrum of intermediate stages appearing between the two. immunity against leprosy de ... | 2001 | 11288514 |
| epidemiology of selected mycobacteria that infect humans and other animals. | this paper provides a summary of salient clinical and epidemiological features of selected mycobacterial diseases that are common to humans and other animals. clinical and diagnostic issues are discussed and related to estimates of the incidence and prevalence of these diseases among humans. source of infection, route of transmission and control measures are also presented. the mycobacteria discussed in this paper are mycobacterium bovis, m. ulcerans, m. leprae and m. avium complex, although thi ... | 2001 | 11288519 |
| binding of alpha2-laminins by pathogenic and non-pathogenic mycobacteria and adherence to schwann cells. | the ability of mycobacterium leprae to specifically bind alpha2-laminins of schwann cells has been described recently as being an important property of the leprosy bacillus, which could explain the neural tropism of m. leprae. therefore, the extent of the expression of alpha2-laminin-binding properties among mycobacteria was investigated. in an elisa-based assay, all three species of mycobacterium tested (m. tuberculosis, m. chelonae and m. smegmatis) expressed laminin-binding capacity, suggesti ... | 2001 | 11192500 |
| detection of phenolic glycolipid i of mycobacterium leprae in sera from leprosy patients before and after start of multidrug therapy. | a total of 100 untreated new leprosy patients were recruited prospectively and examined for the presence of phenolic glycolipid i (pgl-i) antigen in their serum specimens by dot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) using rabbit anti-pgl-i antiserum. the presence of circulating pgl-i antigen was closely related to the bacterial indices (bi) of the patients. the pgl-i antigen was detectable in 27 (93.1%) of 29 patients with a bi of 4.0 or above and in 15 (68.2%) of 22 patients with a bi of 3. ... | 2001 | 11139208 |
| a purf mutant of mycobacterium smegmatis has impaired survival during oxygen-starved stationary phase. | in this study it was demonstrated that a range of transposon mutants of mycobacterium smegmatis, previously described as having impaired survival in carbon-starved stationary phase, were not markedly affected in o(2)-starved stationary-phase survival. one exception was 329b, a purine auxotroph, which showed a precipitous reduction in viability from approximately 10(8) to approximately 10(3) c.f.u. ml(-1) during the first 5-10 d in o(2)-starved stationary phase. this was followed by an equally ra ... | 2001 | 11158364 |
| dna encoding a single mycobacterial antigen protects against leprosy infection. | the continuing incidence of leprosy infection around the world and the inability of mycobacterium bovis bacille calmette-guérin (bcg) to protect certain populations clearly indicates that an improved vaccine against leprosy is needed. the immuno dominant 35 kda protein, shared by mycobacterium leprae and mycobacterium avium, but not mycobacterium tuberculosis or bcg, is recognised by >90% of leprosy patients, making it an ideal candidate antigen for a subunit vaccine. immunization of outbred swi ... | 2001 | 11163661 |
| sequential erythema nodosum leprosum and reversal reaction with similar lesional cytokine mrna patterns in a borderline leprosy patient. | we compare the clinical and histological data with the immunological status of a borderline leprosy patient who experienced an erythema nodosum leprosum (enl) reaction followed by a reversal reaction (rr) after 12 weeks of anti-inflammatory treatment (pentoxifylline, ptx, 1200 mg daily). skin biopsies, serum and blood samples were collected sequentially during the reactional episodes. at the outset of rr, the patient's lymphocytes secreted interferon (ifn) -gamma and there was a positive lymphop ... | 2001 | 11167702 |
| molecular basis for the peripheral nerve predilection of mycobacterium leprae. | mycobacterium leprae, the causative organism of leprosy, has a unique predilection for schwann cells, the glial cells of the peripheral nervous system. m. leprae invasion of schwann cells leads to the neurological damage that underlies the sensory motor loss and subsequent deformity and disability associated with this disease. recent studies have begun to elucidate the early events of m. leprae infection of schwann cells on a molecular level, and the host and bacterial factors that determine the ... | 2001 | 11173029 |
| leprosy lipid provides the key to schwann cell entry. | a recent study has demonstrated that the species-specific phenolic glycolipid of mycobacterium leprae triggers uptake into schwann cells by interaction with laminin-2 and the alpha-dystroglycan receptor. this finding emphasizes the importance of lipids in the biology of mycobacterial infection and suggests possible strategies to combat nerve damage in leprosy. | 2001 | 11173227 |
| pcr primers that can detect low levels of mycobacterium leprae dna. | there are several specific pcr-based methods to detect mycobacterium leprae dna, but the amplicons are quite large. for example, primers that target the 36-kda antigen gene and are in common diagnostic use yield a 530-bp product. this may be a disadvantage when examining samples in which the dna is likely to be damaged and fragmented. therefore, two sets of m. leprae-specific nested primers were designed, based on existing primer pairs which have been shown to be specific for m. leprae. primers ... | 2001 | 11211226 |
| dipstick assay to identify leprosy patients who have an increased risk of relapse. | classification of leprosy patients into paucibacillary (pb) and multibacillary (mb) determines the duration of treatment; misclassification increases the risk of relapse because of insufficient treatment if an mb patient is classified as pb. we explored the possibility of using a simple dipstick assay based on the detection of antibodies to the mycobacterium leprae-specific phenolic glycolipid-i (pgl-i) as a tool for classification of patients into pb and mb for treatment purposes. the sensitivi ... | 2001 | 11348523 |
| a critique on commentary 'how mycobacterium leprae infects peripheral nerves' by freedman et al. | 2001 | 11355512 | |
| effect of unique mycobacterium leprae phenolic glycolipid-i (pgl-i) on tumour necrosis factor production by human mononuclear cells. | mycobacterium leprae cell wall-associated components are found in large amounts in the tissues of leprosy patients, particularly those at the lepromatous pole. among these molecules, the phenolic glycolipid-i (pgl-i), unique to m. leprae, has been involved in the selective anergy observed in the lepromatous patients. armadillo-derived m. leprae retains only a small proportion of the total pgl-i found in infected tissues. therefore, the addition of pgl-i to m. leprae in vitro is important for a b ... | 2001 | 11355520 |
| leprosy research in the post-genome era. | 2001 | 11355523 | |
| simultaneous detection of mycobacterium leprae and its susceptibility to dapsone using dna heteroduplex analysis. | currently recommended control measures for treating leprosy with multidrug therapy should control the spread of drug-resistant strains; however, dapsone (dds) resistance continues to be reported. comprehensive estimates of drug-resistant leprosy are difficult to obtain due to the cumbersome nature of the conventional drug susceptibility testing method using mouse footpad inoculation, which requires at least 6 months to obtain results. recently, it has been determined that dds-resistant strains c ... | 2001 | 11376039 |
| genomics: leprosy - a degenerative disease of the genome. | analysis of the genome of the leprosy bacillus uncovers evidence of extensive deletion and inactivation of genes. secluded in a specialised niche, it has discarded much of its genetic heritage, though retaining just enough to be a major human pathogen. | 2001 | 11378400 |
| unique expression of a highly conserved mycobacterial gene in is901(+) mycobacterium avium. | expression of a gene encoding a novel protein antigen of 40 kda (p40) was detected in is901(+) strains of mycobacterium avium, but not in any other species or subspecies of mycobacterium tested, including is901(-) m. avium and the other members of the m. avium complex. although southern hybridization revealed that the p40 gene is widely distributed within the genus, expression of the antigen could not be detected on western blots of mycobacterial cell lysates. nucleotide sequence analysis of the ... | 2001 | 11390686 |
| resuscitation of dormant mycobacterium tuberculosis by phospholipids or specific peptides. | the presence of dormant tubercle bacilli presents a major problem for tuberculosis treatment. the culture supernatant of mycobacterium tuberculosis was previously shown to resuscitate dormant bacilli in vitro. here we report identification of active components as phospholipids and a tuberculosis protein rv1174c. remarkably, dormant bacilli from a one year old culture which failed to form any colonies could be resuscitated with peptides derived from rv1174c and formed 10(5-7) colonies/ml. this fi ... | 2001 | 11394916 |
| leprosy and the genome--not yet a burnt-out case. | 2001 | 11425365 | |
| intracellular signals triggered during association of mycobacterium leprae and mycobacterium bovis bcg with human monocytes. | to gain a better understanding of mycobacteria-host cell interaction, the present study compared the signal transduction events triggered during the interaction of mycobacterium leprae (the causative agent of leprosy) and of mycobacterium bovis bcg (an attenuated strain used as a vaccine against leprosy and tuberculosis) with human monocytes. the assays consisted of pre-treating or not thp-1 cells (a human monocytic cell line) with different kinase inhibitors, followed by incubation with fluores ... | 2001 | 11427035 |
| serological expression cloning and immunological evaluation of mtb48, a novel mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen. | improved diagnostics are needed for the detection of mycobacterium tuberculosis, especially for patients with smear-negative disease. to address this problem, we have screened m. tuberculosis (h37rv and erdman strains) genomic expression libraries with pooled sera from patients with extrapulmonary disease and with sera from patients with elevated reactivity with m. tuberculosis lysate. both serum pools were reactive with clones expressing a recombinant protein referred to here as mtb48. the geno ... | 2001 | 11427558 |
| a role for il-12 receptor expression and signal transduction in host defense in leprosy. | the generation of cell-mediated immunity against intracellular infection involves the production of il-12, a critical cytokine required for the development of th1 responses. the biologic activities of il-12 are mediated through a specific, high affinity il-12r composed of an il-12rbeta1/il-12rbeta2 heterodimer, with the il-12rbeta2 chain involved in signaling via stat4. we investigated il-12r expression and function in human infectious disease, using the clinical/immunologic spectrum of leprosy ... | 2001 | 11441083 |
| driving a stake into resurgent tb. | 2001 | 11452108 | |
| the prevalence of folp1 mutations associated with clinical resistance to dapsone, in mycobacterium leprae isolates from south korea. | 2001 | 11454253 |