Publications
| Title | Abstract | Year(sorted descending) Filter | PMID Filter |
|---|
| multidrug resistant mycobacterium leprae from patients with leprosy. | sequences of the folp1, rpob, and gyra genes were analyzed for 88 isolates of mycobacterium leprae from leprosy patients in japan, haiti, indonesia, pakistan, and the philippines. thirteen isolates (14.8%) showed representative mutations in more than two genes, suggesting the emergence of multidrug-resistant m. leprae. | 2001 | 11709358 |
| distinguishing between relapse and late reversal reaction in multidrug (mdt)-treated bt leprosy. | 2001 | 11715270 | |
| a high incidence of viable mycobacterium leprae in post-mdt recurrent lesions in tuberculoid leprosy patients. | 2001 | 11715280 | |
| 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 |
| mycobacterium smegmatis laminin-binding glycoprotein shares epitopes with mycobacterium tuberculosis heparin-binding haemagglutinin. | mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, produces a heparin-binding haemagglutinin adhesin (hbha), which is involved in its epithelial adherence. to ascertain whether hbha is also present in fast-growing mycobacteria, mycobacterium smegmatis was studied using anti-hbha monoclonal antibodies (mabs). a cross-reactive protein was detected by immunoblotting of m. smegmatis whole-cell lysates. however, the m. tuberculosis hbha-encoding gene failed to hybridize with m. smegmati ... | 2001 | 11123691 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| [what shall we make of the arrival of "generalized" antibiotics to anti-hansen's therapy?]. | 2001 | 12136737 | |
| a comparative and combinatorial study on two serological assays for detection of mycobacterium leprae infection. | the performances of two mycobacterium leprae specific serological assays namely: phenolicglycolipid-l-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (pgl-elisa) and a monoclonal antibody-based inhibition test (mait) were studied for there efficiency to detect m. leprae infection. as usual, both the tests were more sensitive to detect lepromatous leprosy patients than tuberculoid type of leprosy patients. considering the efficiency to detect leprosy patients, the mait was slightly more sensitive and spe ... | 2001 | 12136738 |
| is soil an alternative source of leprosy infection? | leprosy is believed to be transmitted only through human contacts. however, many anomalous observations had gradually accumulated which had weakened such beliefs. these are: only 1/3 rd cases of leprosy give a definite history of being transmitted from other known cases; life-long spouses, in whom only one has leprosy, seldom lead to leprosy to others; while mdt applied intensively in most leprosy endemic countries, could successfully reduce incidence of leprosy, however, simultaneously new case ... | 2001 | 12136740 |
| 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 | |
| [electron microscopy of mycobacterium leprae passed in laboratory animals]. | the ultrastructure of m. leprae was studied in the process of its intraplantar passage from man to mice (passages 1-8). changes in the morphology of m. leprae, observed in the course of 3 passages, were established. from the phase of dormant forms (passage 1) the bacteria became adapted to the new host by passage 3, which was confirmed by the absence of differences in the ultrastructure of cells by passages 3-8. the possibilities of the phenotypic variability of m. leprae in the process of in vi ... | 2001 | 11871293 |
| distinct histopathological patterns in single lesion leprosy patients treated with single dose therapy (rom) in the brazilian multicentric study. | this paper aims to describe the histomorphologic features of skin biopsies of single lesion leprosy patients recruited at outpatient clinics in four brazilian states in the northeast (amazonas and rondonia), southeast (rio de janeiro) and center-west (goiás) between october 1997 and december 1998. patients clinically diagnosed as single skin lesion paucibacillary (ssl-pb) leprosy had a standard 4-mm punch biopsy taken from the lesion before rifampin, ofloxacin, minocycline (rom) therapy. the fea ... | 2001 | 11875761 |
| impact of combined mycobacterium w vaccine and 1 year of mdt on multibacillary leprosy patients. | a total of 20 bacteriologically positive multibacillary (mb) leprosy patients older than 18 years of age with a bacterial index (bi) of 2+ or greater were given standard world health organization multiple drug therapy (mdt-mb) for 12 consecutive months plus four intradermal doses of mycobacterium w vaccine at 3 monthly intervals (study group). twenty age-matched mb patients were given who/mdt alone (control group). the patients of both groups were followed up for 1 year. improvements in the pati ... | 2001 | 11875762 |
| immunological profile of treated lepromatous leprosy patients. | the immune responses of 19 treated lepromatous patients who had remained smear negative for a long period were assessed for specific cell-mediated immunity (cmi), anti-mycobacterium leprae antibodies and cytokine release in response to challenge with m. leprae soluble antigen (mlsa). all of these patients remained anergic to mitsuda lepromin. lymphoproliferation in response to m. leprae antigen was noted in only two patients. significant reduction in the phenolic glycolipid i (pgl-i) antibody re ... | 2001 | 11875763 |
| cytokine profiles in paraffin-embedded biopsy samples of lepromatous leprosy patients: semi-quantitative measure of cytokine mrna using rt-pcr. | a reproducible technique for fixation of tissue, rna extraction and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) analysis from paraffin-embedded leprosy biopsies, has been developed and used to study the mrna profiles. this approach is valuable in retrospective analysis of gene expression, and the handling of infectious biopsy material is also minimized. among the methods of rna extraction compared, the most efficient method was found to be incubation of the tissue sections in digest ... | 2001 | 11875764 |
| pentoxifylline downregulates nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-alpha induced by mycobacterial lipoarabinomannan in a macrophage cell line. | pentoxifylline (ptx), a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, is known to downregulate tumor necrosis factor-alpha (tnf-alpha) secretion induced by lipopolysacchride (lps) and gamma interferon (ifn-gamma). we have had limited success in treating leprosy reactions, including erythema nodosum leprosum (enl), in which tnf-alpha has been identified as a major proinflammatory cytokine. ptx inhibited production of no (ic50 approximately equal to 1.0 mg/ml) and tnf-alpha (ic50 approximately equal to 0.05 mg/ml) ... | 2001 | 11875767 |
| acceptance of who/mdt over the last 20 years. | 2001 | 11875769 | |
| tumor necrosis factor (tnf) production in leprosy patients. | 2001 | 11875771 | |
| leprosy bacillus--possibly the first chemoautotrophic human pathogen cultivated in vitro and characterised. | leprosy bacillus (lb) and leprosy derived in vitro culture forms, the chemoautotrophic nocardioform (can) bacteria, showed an extremely close homology and identity with each other as regards a chemoautotrophic nutritional pattern, a nocardioform morphology, a weak acid-fastness coupled with gram and gomori's stain positivity, an exclusive mycolate and lipid profile, a phenolic glycolipid (pgl-i) and a highly sequestrated dna characteristic, namely, a unique small size, a low g+c % mole, an excep ... | 2001 | 11883520 |
| correlation of clinical, histological and immunological features across the leprosy spectrum. | the ridley-jopling system of classification of the variegated clinical pattern of leprosy is based on the specific cell-mediated immunity observed in the histopathology of skin lesions conforming to a spectrum from tt at one end to ll at the other. in this study a fairly large sample of 90 patients was classified on clinical grounds; the histopathology of the skin lesions was studied blind. there was an overall concordance of 90% between the clinical and histological classifications. in addition ... | 2001 | 11898465 |
| increased expression of fas ligand in human tuberculosis and leprosy lesions: a potential novel mechanism of immune evasion in mycobacterial infection. | to study the location and mechanism of apoptosis within the human tuberculosis (tb) and leprosy lesions, parallel sections were analyzed for mycobacterial antigens (m.ag), fas ligand (fasl), fas, cd68 and mac387 by immunohistochemistry, and apoptotic cells by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl-transferase-mediated dutp-digoxigenin nick end labelling method. cutaneous leishmaniasis and foreign body granulomas were analyzed for comparison. the heavily infected macrophages in multibacillary tb and lepro ... | 2001 | 11902340 |
| 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 | |
| mycobacterium leprae-specific, hla class ii-restricted killing of human schwann cells by cd4+ th1 cells: a novel immunopathogenic mechanism of nerve damage in leprosy. | peripheral nerve damage is a major complication of reversal (or type-1) reactions in leprosy. the pathogenesis of nerve damage remains largely unresolved, but detailed in situ analyses suggest that type-1 t cells play an important role. mycobacterium leprae is known to have a remarkable tropism for schwann cells of the peripheral nerve. reversal reactions in leprosy are often accompanied by severe and irreversible nerve destruction and are associated with increased cellular immune reactivity aga ... | 2001 | 11342602 |
| isolation of pdx2, a second novel gene in the pyridoxine biosynthesis pathway of eukaryotes, archaebacteria, and a subset of eubacteria. | in this paper we describe the isolation of a second gene in the newly identified pyridoxine biosynthesis pathway of archaebacteria, some eubacteria, fungi, and plants. although pyridoxine biosynthesis has been thoroughly examined in escherichia coli, recent characterization of the cercospora nicotianae biosynthesis gene pdx1 led to the discovery that most organisms contain a pyridoxine synthesis gene not found in e. coli. pdx2 was isolated by a degenerate primer strategy based on conserved seque ... | 2001 | 11344146 |
| featured organism: reductive evolution in bacteria: buchnera sp., rickettsia prowazekii and mycobacterium leprae. | obligate intracellular bacteria commonly have much reduced genome sizes compared to their nearest free-living relatives. one reason for this is reductive evolution: the loss of genes rendered non-essential due to the intracellular habitat. this can occur because of the presence of orthologous genes in the host, combined with the ability of the bacteria to import the protein or metabolite products of the host genes. in this article we take a look at three such bacteria whose genomes have been ful ... | 2001 | 18628941 |
| electronic access to mycobacterium tuberculosis sequence data. | the complete genome sequence of the well studied laboratory strain of mycobacterium tuberculosis (h37rv) has been published by the sanger centre (1), and this information will soon be complemented by the completion of a recent clinical isolate of m. tuberculosis (cdc1551/csu93) by the institute for genomic research (2). in addition to these sequences, projects for the genomic sequencing of mycobacterium bovis (3), mycobacterium leprae (4), and mycobacterium avium (5) are underway. a vast wealth ... | 2001 | 21341084 |
| multiple mutations in the rpob gene of mycobacterium leprae strains from leprosy patients in thailand. | a new finding is reported of multiple mutations in the rpob gene of 9 mycobacterium leprae strains from leprosy patients in thailand, who did not respond to therapy even when rifampicin, the main drug in multi-drug therapy was used. by means of sequence analysis of 9 thai m. leprae strains, various mutations in 289 bps of the rpob gene revealed forms of mutation never before described, such as multiple mutations (ie, mutation at two, three, six, seven, eight and nine positions in the rpob gene), ... | 2000 | 11289008 |
| assessment of viability by normal mouse foot-pad and bacillary atp bioluminescence assay in multibacillary cases treated with an mdt regimen using conventional as well as newer drugs like minocycline and ofloxacin. | the therapeutic effect of a drug regimen of conventional drugs as well as newer drugs like ofloxacin and minocycline in smear-positive multibacillary (mb) leprosy cases was assessed by mouse foot-pad and atp bioluminiscence methods. biopsies were taken before starting treatment and after one year of treatment. they were processed for viability assessment by normal mouse foot-pad inoculation and bacillary atp assay techniques. the test regimen was quite effective in its anti-bacterial effect as i ... | 2000 | 11212477 |
| intranasal administration of fusidic acid cream in leprosy. | the effect of local treatment of nostrils with fusidic acid cream was investigated in 30 previously untreated lepromatous leprosy patients. the cream was applied in the nostrils after flushing the nostrils with normal saline, twice a day for a period of four weeks. it was found that 20 mg/gm of sodium fusidate was effective in reducing the morphological index of the nose-blow smear to zero in two weeks in majority of the patients. no untoward side effect was seen in any of the patients. such nas ... | 2000 | 11212479 |
| multidrug therapy--the pathway for global leprosy elimination. | introduction of dapsone therapy paved the way for better and more humanitarian way of dealing with the leprosy victims who, prior to 1943, were simply rejected and segregated from society. emergence of dapsone-resistant m. leprae and mycobacterial persistence provoked our quest for another solution. more drugs were discovered for treatment of leprosy. but the real breakthrough was the recommendation of regimens of multidrug therapy (mdt) for the treatment of leprosy by the who study group on che ... | 2000 | 11212482 |
| histoid leprosy--an unusual presentation. | 2000 | 11212483 | |
| single lesion paucibacillary leprosy: baseline profile of the brazilian multicenter cohort study. | in brazil, there is little information about the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of paucibacillary, single skin lesion leprosy patients (ssl-pb). only recently has the official notification system distinguished leprosy patients with a single lesion as a clinical entity, for whom the single-dose rom (rifampin, ofloxacin and minocycline) regimen has been recommended. in this paper, we describe the baseline clinical features and the immunological background of a multicenter cohort of s ... | 2000 | 11221086 |
| relapse as histoid leprosy after receiving multidrug therapy (mdt); a report of three cases. | the histoid type of leprosy has been described as occurring in lepromatous leprosy patients who relapse after many years of apparently successful dapsone monotherapy. three patients who had received the world health organization-recommended regimens of multidrug therapy (who/mdt) relapsed as histoid leprosy 12-15 years after completion of treatment. in one patient, through mouse foot pad studies, the bacilli were found to be sensitive to rifampin and clofazimine and resistant to dapsone. in the ... | 2000 | 11221089 |
| efficacy of single-dose rom therapy plus low-dose convit vaccine as an adjuvant for treatment of paucibacillary leprosy patients with a single skin lesion. | the recent world health organization multicentric field study on the treatment of paucibacillary (pb) leprosy patients with single skin lesion (ssl) and a single dose of rifampin-ofloxacin-minocycline (rom) brought new hope to those who are engaged in the eradication of leprosy from india. being encouraged by the who report, we undertook the present hospital-based study and found that pb leprosy patients with ssl were morphologically and histopathologically heterogeneous. the histological spectr ... | 2000 | 11221091 |
| hansen's disease in a patient with a history of sarcoidosis. | we report a rare case of concomitant hansen's disease (hd) and sarcoidosis. reticulin staining may be a helpful diagnostic tool in establishing the diagnosis of sarcoidosis in skin lesions. the diagnosis of hd can be established despite negative polymerase chain reaction results for the detection of mycobacterium leprae dna. finally, a well-established diagnosis of sarcoidosis does not preclude the development of another granulomatous disorder. hence, when new lesions developed in a patient with ... | 2000 | 11221094 |
| leprosy at a turning point? | 2000 | 11221095 | |
| development of tt leprosy in a bcg-vaccinated individual: immunological response during disease and after spontaneous healing. | 2000 | 11221096 | |
| dapsone drug resistance in the mdt era. | 2000 | 11221097 | |
| tumor necrosis factor promoter polymorphism (tnf2) seems to protect against development of severe forms of leprosy in a pilot study in brazilian patients. | 2000 | 11221098 | |
| endothelial cells and the pathogenesis of lepromatous neuritis:insights from the armadillo model. | selective infection of peripheral nerves is a unique property of mycobacterium leprae that results in serious injury, but its basis is unexplained. recent evidence from infected armadillos suggests that endothelial cells of peripheral nerve vasculature may be the gatekeepers by which m. leprae infects nerves. the pathogenesis of neuropathy in leprosy may thus entail a dynamic sequence of adhesion, immunologic, and inflammatory processes involving peripheral nerve endothelial cells. | 2000 | 11165928 |
| identification and characterization of the dnaa upstream region of thermus thermophilus. | the gene order in the dnaa region of thermus thermophilus was determined. previously, we showed that the putative oric of t. thermophilus is located in the dnaa-dnan intergenic region. in the 4 kb region upstream of the dnaa gene four orfs were found, all orientated in the same direction which is opposite to that of dnaa. the orfs were identified as t. thermophilus homologs of gida, gidb, soj and spo0j of bacillus subtilis. the gene order spo0j-soj-gidb-gida-dnaa-dnan resembles that of b. subtil ... | 2000 | 11167017 |
| functional interactions of mycobacterium leprae ruva with escherichia coli ruvb and ruvc on holliday junctions. | the mycobacterium leprae ruva homologue (mlruva) was over-expressed in escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity. the dna-binding specificity and the functional interactions of mlruva with e. coli ruvb and ruvc (ecruvb and ecruvc) were examined using synthetic holliday junctions. mlruva bound specifically to holliday junctions and produced similar band-shift patterns as ecruva. moreover, mlruva formed functional dna helicase and branch-migration enzymes with ecruvb, although the heterologous ... | 2000 | 10966790 |
| the role of schwann cells, t cells and mycobacterium leprae in the immunopathogenesis of nerve damage in leprosy. | damage to peripheral nerves is the major complication of reversal (type i) reactions in leprosy. the underlying mechanism of nerve damage remains largely unresolved; however, an important role for type-1 t cells has been suggested. mycobacterium leprae has a remarkable tropism for the schwann cells that surround peripheral axons. because reversal reactions in leprosy are often accompanied by severe and irreversible nerve destruction, and are associated with increased cellular immune reactivity a ... | 2000 | 11201869 |
| pathogenesis of nerve damage in leprosy: genetic polymorphism regulates the production of tnf alpha. | studies carried out over the last decade have strongly suggested that tnf alpha both overtly participates in the cell-mediated immune response against mycobacterium leprae, and is overproduced during reaction. in addition, reactions are intimately related to the onset of nerve damage. finally, tnf alpha has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many human and experimental autoimmune peripheral neuropathies that, as in leprosy, result in demyelination and axonal lesions. because of recent findin ... | 2000 | 11201873 |
| prophylaxis--scope and limitations. | attempts to prevent leprosy by one or another prophylactic method began with the use of dapsone as a chemoprophylaxis. following early, small-scale studies, which were promising, large-scale studies with dapsone and acedapsone, both among contacts and in the general population, demonstrated that it is possible to prevent the occurrence of leprosy to a modest extent. with regard to immunoprophylaxis, bcg had long been considered a possibility, particularly in view of its potential to convert the ... | 2000 | 11201874 |
| preliminary analysis of the genome sequence of mycobacterium leprae. | 2000 | 11201875 | |
| molecular basis of the interaction of mycobacterium leprae with peripheral nerve: implications for therapeutic strategies. | 2000 | 11201876 | |
| exploitation of gene knockout mice models to study the pathogenesis of leprosy. | shepard's technique for growth of mycobacterium leprae in the mouse footpad, described in 1960, and more recent studies in thymectomized-irradiated mice and rats, athymic nude mice, nude rats and severe combined immunodeficiency (scid) mice have defined the role of t-cell mediated immunity (cmi) in leprosy. however, the normal mouse and the immunocompromised mouse and rat represent only elements of polar tuberculoid disease and polar lepromatous leprosy, respectively. transgenic, knockout (ko) m ... | 2000 | 11201877 |
| immunoprophylaxis against mycobacterium leprae infection with subunit vaccines. | we have investigated the effect of subunit vaccines against infection with mycobacterium leprae, employing dna plasmids as the vaccine vectors, and the immunodominant 35 kda protein of m. leprae as the candidate antigen. a dna vaccine that expresses the m. leprae 35 kda protein both stimulated interferon-gamma (ifn gamma)-secreting t cells in mice, and demonstrated protection against m. leprae-infection of mice. | 2000 | 11201878 |
| leprosy research--setting priorities and facilitating collaborations: a personal perspective. | in recent years, as the prevalence of leprosy has declined and the tuberculosis epidemic has gained increasing attention, leprosy research has generally taken a 'back seat' to research in tuberculosis and other emerging and re-emerging infections. this has resulted as much from perceived differences of scientific opportunities in these fields as from differences of the disease burden. at the united states national institutes of health (nih), research priority setting is typically based on a numb ... | 2000 | 11201879 |
| approaches to studying the transmission of mycobacterium leprae. | a collaborative study has been undertaken to establish the relationship between infection by mycobacterium leprae and the development of immunity in a community in which multidrug therapy (mdt) has been used for more than 10 years, to elucidate the pathogenesis of infection in leprosy, and to develop and test an intervention strategy based on chemotherapy for interruption of transmission of the organism in the community. the first phase of the study included the establishment of laboratory facil ... | 2000 | 11201882 |
| chemoprophylaxis against leprosy: expectations and methodology of a trial. | because of the great efficacy of multidrug therapy (mdt), it had been hoped that the widespread use of mdt would bring about a rapid decrease of the incidence of leprosy. to the present, a decrease of incidence has not been observed, possibly because of the long incubation period of the disease, and because general implementation of mdt is still recent. other reasons, such as environmental sources of infection or the role of healthy carriers in transmitting mycobacterium leprae, cannot be exclud ... | 2000 | 11201885 |
| skin test development in leprosy: progress with first-generation skin test antigens, and an approach to the second generation. | one of the most urgent needs from leprosy research is a test for infection. the lepromin test is not suitable as a diagnostic test for leprosy, and neither the rees nor the convit soluble antigens has appeared sufficiently specific. because two new antigens, mlsa-lam and mlcwa, may not fully meet the requirements for specificity, we have embarked upon the preparation of a second generation of skin test antigens. size-fractionated cryptozoic proteins were prepared from m. leprae by electroelution ... | 2000 | 11201887 |
| diagnostic assays for leprosy based on t-cell epitopes. | to date, only a limited number of antigens have been described as specific for mycobacterium leprae, and in many cases, homologues have subsequently been shown to exist in mycobacteria such as m. avium and m. intracellulare. a leprosy synthetic peptide skin test initiative was established by the steering committee on the immunology of mycobacteria of the undp/world bank/who special programme for research and training in tropical diseases, to investigate the potential of synthetic peptides that e ... | 2000 | 11201888 |
| whole blood assays for interferon-gamma: practicalities and potential for use as diagnostic tests in the field. | recent years have seen the introduction of a number of whole-blood assays, in which unseparated heparinized blood is stimulated with antigen either overnight or for as long as 6 days, and cytokine production is measured in the plasma or supernatant. these assays have potential for use in the field as immunodiagnostic assays, as they require only a small blood sample and basic laboratory facilities. use of these assays in a large study of the immunological effects of bcg vaccination in malawi has ... | 2000 | 11201889 |
| experience and lessons from the use of lepromin and mycobacterium leprae-specific serology. | skin testing with lepromin, which produces a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction, has been used in the classification of leprosy, and a good correlation has been found between immunological status and the reaction to lepromin. in addition, the prognostic value of the lepromin test has been demonstrated. more recently, skin testing with two soluble antigens of mycobacterium leprae showed no difference of the mean size of the reaction between household contacts and non-contacts, indicating that ... | 2000 | 11201890 |
| use of a mycobacterium leprae dipstick to classify patients with leprosy. | 2000 | 11201891 | |
| a rapid, microplate-based assay for evaluating the activity of drugs against mycobacterium leprae, employing the reduction of alamar blue. | 2000 | 11201892 | |
| combination of rifapentine-moxifloxacin-minocycline (pmm) for the treatment of leprosy. | to further the development of a multidrug regimen for treatment of leprosy that is suitable for monthly administration and fully supervisable, the bactericidal activities against mycobacterium leprae of hmr 3647 (hmr), moxifloxacin (mxfx) and rifapentine (rpt) were measured by the proportional bactericide technique in the mouse footpad system, and compared with those of the established antileprosy drugs clarithromycin (clari), ofloxacin (oflo) and rifampicin (rmp). administered in five daily dos ... | 2000 | 11201894 |
| dapsone resistance in mycobacterium leprae. | the folp1 gene of mycobacterium leprae, which encodes dihydropteroate synthase (dhps), was studied for the presence of mutations associated with resistance to dapsone (dds). when the folp1 of several dds-resistant clinical isolates of m. leprae were sequenced, two missense mutations were identified. one mutation occurred at codon 53, substituting isoleucine for threonine in dhps-1, and a second mutation occurred in codon 55, substituting arginine for proline. dna sequencing of strains of m. lepr ... | 2000 | 11201896 |
| rapid detection of resistance to rifampicin in mycobacterium leprae. | 2000 | 11201897 | |
| detection of leprosy in ancient human skeletal remains by molecular identification of mycobacterium leprae. | we isolated ancient dna from skeletal remains obtained from a south german ossuary (approximately 1400-1800 ad) and from a 10th century hungarian cemetery partially indicating macromorphologic evidence of leprosy. in samples taken of 2 skulls from germany and of 1 hard palate from hungary, mycobacterium leprae-specific fragments of rlep1 and rlep3 were amplified using polymerase chain reaction (pcr), thereby confirming their specificity by sequencing. in another case, pcr with primers targeting ... | 2000 | 10989644 |
| bactericidal activities of hmr 3647, moxifloxacin, and rifapentine against mycobacterium leprae in mice. | bactericidal activities of hmr 3647 (hmr), moxifloxacin (mxfx), and rifapentine (rpt) against mycobacterium leprae, measured by the proportional bactericidal technique in the mouse footpad system, were compared with those of the established antileprosy drugs clarithromycin (clari), ofloxacin (oflo), and rifampin (rmp). administered in five daily doses of 100 mg/kg of body weight, hmr appeared slightly more bactericidal than clari. in a single dose, mxfx at 150 mg/kg was more active than the same ... | 2000 | 10991891 |
| a postgenomic approach to identification of mycobacterium leprae-specific peptides as t-cell reagents. | to identify mycobacterium leprae-specific human t-cell epitopes, which could be used to distinguish exposure to m. leprae from exposure to mycobacterium tuberculosis or to environmental mycobacteria or from immune responses following mycobacterium bovis bcg vaccination, 15-mer synthetic peptides were synthesized based on data from the m. leprae genome, each peptide containing three or more predicted hla-dr binding motifs. eighty-one peptides from 33 genes were tested for their ability to induce ... | 2000 | 10992494 |
| [study on recombinant bcg]. | the progress of study on recombinant bcg was stated briefly. and then our studies on recombinant bcg were mentioned. recombinant bcg secreting alpha antigen-fused merozoite surface protein 1 (msp 1) was prepared and tested for its ability to control infections of plasmodium yoelii. result turned out it controlled the infection better than recombinant msp 1 mixed with freund incomplete adjuvant did. recombinant bcg secreting excess amounts of antigen 85 complex a controlled infection of mycobacte ... | 2000 | 11004802 |
| interleukin-18 (il-18) and infectious diseases, with special emphasis on diseases induced by intracellular pathogens. | interleukin-18 (il-18) is a novel cytokine mainly produced by activated macrophages. il-18 was originally called interferon-gamma inducing factor, due to its action in inducing ifn-gamma secretion from th1 cells, nk cells and nkt cells. it has been reported that il-18 may play important roles in various diseases including cancer and infectious diseases. this review deals with the roles of il-18 in infectious diseases, with special emphasis on il-18 in infectious diseases caused by intracellular ... | 2000 | 11008115 |
| m. leprae-hiv co-infection: pattern of immune response in vivo and in vitro. | 2000 | 11008656 |