| clinical trial of ofloxacin alone and in combination with dapsone plus clofazimine for treatment of lepromatous leprosy. | twenty-four patients with newly diagnosed lepromatous leprosy were allocated randomly to three groups and treated for 56 days with 400 mg of ofloxacin daily, 800 mg of ofloxacin daily, or 400 mg of ofloxacin, 100 mg of dapsone, and 50 mg of clofazimine daily plus 300 mg of clofazimine once every 28 days. the patients in all three groups demonstrated remarkable clinical improvements, accompanied by rapid decline of the morphological index in skin smears during treatment. more than 99, > 99.99, an ... | 1994 | 8031029 |
| persistent misconceptions in leprosy research. | | 1993 | 8043095 |
| an evaluation of the s-100 stain in the histological diagnosis of tuberculoid leprosy and other granulomatous dermatoses. | forty biopsies of granulomatous dermatoses, 12 of which were tuberculoid leprosy (tl), were studied for patterns of nerve twig distribution using an immunoperoxidase technique for s-100 protein. four distinct patterns of nerve twigs were identified: 1) within granulomas, 2) between granulomas, 3) within and between granulomas, and 4) undetectable nerve twigs in an adequate biopsy. pattern 4 was seen exclusively in tl (p < 0.05). the other patterns occurred in nonleprosy dermatoses as well, sugge ... | 1994 | 8046265 |
| progress in the chemotherapy of leprosy. | | 1994 | 8046266 |
| assessment of the purity of m. leprae preparations from tissues of leprosy-infected laboratory animals. | | 1994 | 8046272 |
| "tuberculoid contamination" in histoid hanseniasis. | | 1994 | 8046273 |
| characterization of the antigen 85 complex fibronectin-binding proteins derived from aged culture filtrates of mycobacterium bovis bcg, tice substrain. | the antigen 85 complex are major t-cell and b-cell antigens and fibronectin-binding proteins secreted by mycobacterium tuberculosis, m. leprae and attenuated m. bovis (bcg vaccine). the ag 85 complex was found to comprise a high proportion of the extracellular protein in filtrates of surface-pellicle cultures of tice-substrain bcg vaccine, attaining a maximum of 25%. this proportion began to decrease prior to the end of the logarithmic growth phase, about 3 weeks after the start of the culture, ... | 1994 | 8047024 |
| cloning, sequencing and expression in escherichia coli of the gene for alpha antigen from mycobacterium scrofulaceum. | the gene for the extracellular alpha antigen of mycobacterium scrofulaceum (s-alpha) was cloned by using the alpha antigen gene fragments of mycobacterium bovis bcg as probes. the complete nucleotide sequence was determined. the gene was expressed in escherichia coli. the gene encodes 330 amino acids, including 40 amino acids for the signal peptide, followed by 290 amino acids for the mature protein. the deduced amino acid sequences were highly homologous to the alpha antigen of the species of o ... | 1994 | 8047837 |
| comparison of thermostable macromolecular antigens from leprosy-associated bacteria. | three types of bacteria are associated with leprosy: mycobacterium leprae, leprosy-derived corynebacteria (ldc), and armadillo-derived mycobacteria (adm). the immunological relationships between these three types of bacteria and mycobacterium bovis bcg, used as a reference, were determined by cross-immunoelectrophoresis. when compared with the reference, cross-reactions were observed with a variable number of antigens: 2 in the case of strain ldc 15, 4 with m. leprae, and from 1 to 10 in the cas ... | 1994 | 8050070 |
| immunology of leprosy. new developments. | | 1994 | 8079394 |
| identification of genes involved in the resistance of mycobacteria to killing by macrophages. | the survival of m. leprae and m. tuberculosis in the human host is dependent upon their ability to produce gene products that counteract the bactericidal activities of macrophages. to identify such mycobacterial genes and gene products, recombinant dna libraries of mycobacterial dna in e. coli were passed through macrophages to enrich for clones carrying genes that endow the normally susceptible e. coli bacteria with an enhanced ability to survive within macrophages. following three cycles of en ... | 1994 | 8080180 |
| expression of mycobacterium leprae 18-kda antigen in yeast in a gpi-anchored form. | the 18-kda protein from mycobacterium leprae is a major target for the immune response in leprosy. we have developed a system to express this antigen in yeast as a fusion protein with the c-terminal region of the yeast membrane protein gas1, which would render the recombinant protein anchored to the plasma membrane by a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (gpi) anchor. cells lacking the gas1 gene and transformed with the hybrid 18-kda-gas1 construct express a polypeptide that reacts with an 18-kda-spec ... | 1994 | 8081286 |
| [mycobacterium leprae: behavior in the adipocyte undergoing differentiation]. | we have investigated the behaviour of m. leprae in murine preadipocyte cells (clone ob17) undergoing the adipose cell conversion process in vitro. actively differentiating ob17 cells were infected with m. leprae. the morphological index (mi) of the acid-fast bacteria (afb) present at day 12 and day 25 after infection was compared to the mi of the afb inoculated. an increase of the mi was consistently observed. this increase is suppressed by rifampicin. due to important cell loss, an increase of ... | 1993 | 8087614 |
| antibodies to 65kd heat-shock protein were elevated in rheumatoid arthritis. | antibodies to 65kd heat-shock protein (hsp) of mycobacterium leprae were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) in the three immunoglobulin classes in paired sera and synovial fluids of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (ra). titers of anti-hsp antibody were expressed by optical density (od) values for sera or indexes (od values divided by amounts of immunoglobulin in each class) for synovial fluids and for their paired sera. indexes of anti-hsp antibody were higher in synovial f ... | 1994 | 8088070 |
| bactericidal action of ampicillin/sulbactam against mycobacterium leprae. | | 1994 | 8089050 |
| cloning and sequence determination of the gene coding for the elongation factor tu of mycobacterium leprae. | elongation factor tu (ef-tu) plays an important role in protein biosynthesis and is susceptible to antibiotics in prokaryotes like escherichia coli. in order to understand the primary structure of ef-tu in the intracellular pathogenic bacterium mycobacterium leprae, the gene (tuf gene) coding for this protein was cloned and sequenced. the gene contains a coding region of 1,188 bp with gug as start codon. the deduced amino acid sequence has 396 amino acids with a molecular weight of 43.6 kda. put ... | 1994 | 8089081 |
| cutaneous-malignancy and leprosy. report of a patient with mycobacterium leprae and basal cell carcinoma concurrently present in the same lesion. | leprosy is a chronic systemic infection caused by the bacillus mycobacterium leprae. cutaneous neoplasms have been observed in patients with leprosy. also, albeit less commonly, m. leprae have been documented in the lesions of skin cancer. | 1994 | 8089361 |
| leprosy vaccine debate in india re-ignited. | | 1993 | 8100944 |
| use of polymerase chain reaction to assess efficacy of leprosy chemotherapy. | the assessment of chemotherapy efficacy in leprosy is difficult, since the only reliable method for determining whether the causative organism, mycobacterium leprae, is viable depends on its growth in mouse foot pads. in an attempt to replace this expensive, time-consuming test, methods based on the polymerase chain reaction (pcr) have been developed. these methods depend on detection of dna, which is more susceptible to degradation on cell death than are other cell components, so should be a mo ... | 1993 | 8101301 |
| leprosy and arthropods. | | 1993 | 8102161 |
| mycobacteria induce cd4+ t cells that are cytotoxic and display th1-like cytokine secretion profile: heterogeneity in cytotoxic activity and cytokine secretion levels. | protective immunity against mycobacteria is dependent on antigen-specific t cells. current evidence suggests that not only helper t cells that activate infected macrophages but also cytotoxic t cells (ctl) that lyse infected macrophages are involved in protection. mycobacterium-specific cd4+ ctl are readily detectable among primary peripheral t cells but what proportion of cd4+ t cells display cytotoxic activity is not known. whether the cytotoxic cd4+ t cells are identical to or distinct from t ... | 1993 | 8103743 |
| polymerase chain reaction and assessment of leprosy chemotherapy. | | 1993 | 8105297 |
| comment: persistence of mycobacterium leprae in the peripheral nerves of multidrug-treated leprosy patients. | | 1993 | 8110236 |
| the molecular biology of mycobacterium leprae. | | 1993 | 8127214 |
| serum lactoferrin in lepromatous leprosy patients. | the serum concentrations of lactoferrin were determined by competitive enzyme immunoassay in the sera of 38 lepromatous leprosy patients and 16 healthy volunteers. of the 38 lepromatous patients, 25 were without any sign of reactions while 13 were suffering from enl type of reactions. the lactoferrin levels, in both types of patients, were observed to be significantly higher (p < 0.01 and < 0.001, respectively) than in that of healthy volunteers. the rise in lactoferrin level in reactive patient ... | 1993 | 8127215 |
| loss of viability of mycobacterium leprae isolated from nasal secretions of lepromatous leprosy patients following daily rifampicin and dds therapy. | excreta from blowing their noses was collected from 4 previously untreated multibacillary (ll) patients in the alert hospital, immediately before and during daily treatment with 600 mg rifampicin and 100 mg dapsone (dds). the mycobacterium leprae recovered from the nasal secretions were enumerated and inoculated into the footpads of normal mice. bacilli recovered from 2 of the patients failed to infect mice after 1 day's treatment, and all infectivity of the bacilli from the other 2 patients was ... | 1993 | 8127217 |
| transport of amino-acids across renal brush border membrane vesicles in mycobacterium leprae infected swiss albino mice--effect of convit vaccine. | brush border membrane vesicles prepared from kidneys of mycobacterium leprae infected (non-vaccinated) and vaccinated-infected swiss albino mice were used to assess the effect of convit's combined vaccine (bcg + m. leprae) on amino acid transport activity across the tubular basement membrane. the protective effect of convit's vaccine was more pronounced with respect to the uptake of l-alanine than l-aspartate. uptake of l-lysine showed no significant difference in the different groups. footpad c ... | 1993 | 8127218 |
| the karonga prevention trial: a leprosy and tuberculosis vaccine trial in northern malaŵi. i. methods of the vaccination phase. | in this report the methods of the karonga prevention trial, a double-blind leprosy and tuberculosis vaccine trial in karonga district, northern malaŵi, are described in detail. during a total population house-to-house survey, which lasted from november 1985 until august 1989, 121,008 people (57,892 males and 63,116 females) were vaccinated. a further 5835 people refused vaccination and 5757 were ineligible for vaccination, 2652 of them because they had a history or signs of leprosy, or because t ... | 1993 | 8127221 |
| identification of the leprosy bacillus and related mycobacteria by analysis of mycocerosate profiles. | members of the phthiocerol dimycocerosate family of waxes were extracted from mycobacterium bovis bcg, mycobacterium tuberculosis, mycobacterium kansasii, mycobacterium marinum, mycobacterium ulcerans and a skin biopsy from a leprosy patient. the waxes were degraded by alkaline hydrolysis and the mycocerosic acids converted to pentafluorobenzyl ester. profiles of the esters, recorded using electron-capture gas-chromatography, gave characteristic profiles for the mycocerosates from m. leprae but ... | 1993 | 8129476 |
| amplification and nucleotide sequence of the quinolone resistance-determining region in the gyra gene of mycobacteria. | chromosomal dna of different species of mycobacteria, mycobacterium tuberculosis, mycobacterium leprae, mycobacterium avium and mycobacterium smegmatis, has been submitted to polymerase chain reaction using two oligonucleotide primers highly homologous to dna sequences flanking the quinolone resistance-determining region in the gyra gene of escherichia coli and staphylococcus aureus. for each of these mycobacterial species, a 150-bp dna fragment hybridizing with an intragenic probe of the gyra g ... | 1994 | 8132154 |
| protection of mice against mycobacterial infection by lymphoid cell vaccination. | intracellular parasites may thrive by inducing the host's immune system to suppress the effector immune response that otherwise limits multiplication. hosts are traditionally immunized with the parasite antigens that induce effector immunity. alternatively, one might vaccinate the host with the host lymphoid cells involved in suppression. multiplication of mycobacterium marinum was prevented by vaccinating mice with cells prepared from the popliteal lymph nodes of mice in which the organisms wer ... | 1994 | 8138393 |
| clinical trial of sparfloxacin for lepromatous leprosy. | nine previously untreated patients with lepromatous leprosy were treated with 200 mg of sparfloxacin daily for 12 weeks to determine whether this drug is bactericidal for mycobacterium leprae in humans. the efficacy of therapy was monitored both clinically and by measuring changes in morphological index, mouse footpad infectivity, and the radiorespirometric activity of m. leprae organisms obtained from serial biopsy specimens and also by determining titers of phenolic glycolipid-i in serum. most ... | 1994 | 8141581 |
| in-vitro activities of quinolones against mycobacteria. | from the results of recently-published in-vitro studies, we have reviewed the activities of novel quinolones which are currently available, either commercially or for investigative purposes, against mycobacterium tuberculosis, the atypical mycobacteria (principally the mycobacterium avium complex, mycobacterium chelonae, mycobacterium xenopi, mycobacterium marinum and mycobacterium fortuitum) and mycobacterium leprae. we have also evaluated the effects of the various methods for determining the ... | 1993 | 8144420 |
| cellular and humoral immune responses to recombinant 65-kd antigen of mycobacterium leprae in leprosy patients and healthy controls. | cellular and humoral immune responses to recombinant 65-kd antigen of mycobacterium leprae (rml65) were studied in leprosy patients and healthy contacts from a leprosy-endemic population. peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a considerable proportion of tuberculoid leprosy patients, healthy contacts and non-contacts showed proliferative response to rml65 in vitro. a strong positive correlation was observed between the responses to rml65 and bacille calmette-guérin (bcg) or leprosin a. additio ... | 1994 | 8149671 |
| t cell reactivity against antigen 85 but not against the 18- and 65-kd heat shock proteins in the early stages of acquired immunity against mycobacterium leprae. | t cell proliferation and interferon-gamma (ifn-gamma) production of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmc) from 20 household contacts were tested against the 18- and 65-kd heat shock proteins from mycobacterium leprae (ml18 and ml65 respectively) and antigen 85 from myco. bovis bacille calmette-guérin (bcg) (ag 85) during a 12-months follow-up study. among the eight contacts that became positive, eight showed positive reactivity against ag 85, 5/8 against ml65 and 4/8 against ml18 at the end ... | 1994 | 8149672 |
| low predictive value of pgl-i serology for the early diagnosis of leprosy in family contacts: results of a 10-year prospective field study in french polynesia. | in 1983, a cohort study to follow up the family contacts of leprosy cases was implemented in french polynesia to assess the usefulness and applicability of phenolic glycolipid-i (pgl-i) serology in a leprosy control program. a total of 1201 contacts (666 females, 535 males) have been included in the study. the igm anti-pgl-i seroprevalence determined on the initial sera was 17%. it was significantly higher among females than males (20% vs 15%, p = 0.02). from 1983 to 1992, 4 out of 204 (2%) anti ... | 1993 | 8151183 |
| sensitization potential and reactogenicity of varying doses of bcg plus killed mycobacterium leprae: an extended study. | this study is an extension of a previous study on an antileprosy combination vaccine of bcg plus killed mycobacterium leprae (kml) regarding its sensitization potential and reactogenicity. the study was extended to see if by reducing the dose of bcg in the combination vaccine the incidence of suppurative adenitis could be reduced without a significant reduction in the level of postvaccination skin-test responses. the study included 860 individuals, and three preparations of the combination vacci ... | 1993 | 8151187 |
| serological response in leprosy and tuberculosis patients to the 18-kda antigen of mycobacterium leprae and antigen 85b of mycobacterium bovis bcg. | two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (elisas) for the detection of leprosy antibodies were developed. these assays were based on the recombinant 18-kda protein of mycobacterium leprae and the 85b antigen of m. bovis. sera from leprosy and tuberculosis patients were analyzed, and a phenolic glycolipid-i (pgl-i) elisa was used as a reference test. the 18-kda elisa reached a sensitivity of 70% on lepromatous leprosy sera. the corresponding results for the 85b and the pgl-i elisas were 93% and 96% ... | 1993 | 8151188 |
| a simple and rapid technique for the detection of rifampin resistance in mycobacterium leprae. | the rifampin resistance of mycobacterium leprae is due to missense mutations in the rpob gene encoding the beta-subunit of the essential enzyme rna polymerase. a rapid and very simple method has been developed to detect rifampin resistance in small numbers of m. leprae present in biopsies. it involves polymerase chain reaction amplification of a defined region of the rpob gene followed by single-strand conformational polymorphism analysis (pcr-sscp). the reliability of the method has been tested ... | 1993 | 8151192 |
| activity of sparfloxacin against mycobacterium leprae measured by the proportional bactericidal test. | the activity of 25 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg sparfloxacin was measured against mycobacterium leprae in normal (immunocompetent) mouse foot pads by the proportional bactericidal test. this was compared with the action of 25, 50, and 150 mg/kg ofloxacin by the same method. sparfloxacin, at both concentrations, was found to be strongly bactericidal by this method, comparable to 150 mg/kg ofloxacin. | 1993 | 8151193 |
| differential production of interleukin 1 (il-1), il-6, tumor necrosis factor, and il-1 receptor antagonist by human monocytes stimulated with mycobacterium leprae and m. bovis bcg. | human blood monocytes cultured in various serum conditions were stimulated with mycobacterium leprae or m. bovis bcg and their cytokine-inducing abilities were compared. bcg, either live or killed, induced production of interleukin 1 (il-1), il-6, tumor necrosis factor (tnf), and il-1 receptor antagonist (il-1ra). live bcg at a lower bacterial number was more potent than killed bcg in the induction of il-6 and tnf. in contrast to bcg, killed m. leprae induced few cytokines except for il-1ra. sim ... | 1993 | 8151194 |
| lack of response to who/mdt; a case report. | | 1993 | 8151198 |
| a transposon in hansen's bacillus? | | 1993 | 8161372 |
| detection and characterization of atypical mycobacteria by the polymerase chain reaction. | the purpose of this study was to develop a simple protocol of nested reamplification polymerase chain reaction (pcr) to detect and characterize diverse mycobacterial species. dna extracted from 126 pure mycobacterial cultures isolated from clinical specimens was amplified by nested pcr with use of a novel set of oligonucleotide primers specific for the 65-kda antigen gene of mycobacteria. the pcr products were each digested with three restriction enzymes and electrophoresed on an agarose gel. th ... | 1994 | 8162256 |
| specific and nonspecific aspects of humoral immune response in leprosy. | 1. we have studied some generic and specific aspects of the humoral immune response in 96 patients with leprosy (29 paucibacillary and 67 multibacillary individuals). we determined serum immunoglobulins (igm, igg and iga), ch50, c1q, c3 and c4, circulating immune complexes (cic), c-reactive protein (crp), rheumatoid factor (rf) and antinuclear antibodies. no specific pattern of general humoral immune changes could be observed. 2. the specific immune response was studied by the detection of speci ... | 1994 | 8173529 |
| bioavailability and chemotherapeutic activity of clofazimine against mycobacterium avium complex infections in beige mice following a single implant of a biodegradable polymer. | we have studied the bioavailability of clofazimine following administration of a single dose of the drug in the biodegradable polymer polylactic-co-glycolic acid (plga). we compared the levels of clofazimine achieved in the liver with single implants with those obtained with daily oral treatment. even though the levels achieved with implants were much lower than those obtained after daily oral treatment, they were higher than the mic of clofazimine for mycobacterium leprae, mycobacterium tubercu ... | 1994 | 8182008 |
| nature of peritoneal macrophages from dcc immunized mice. | peritoneal macrophages from mice immunized with the delipidified cell component (dcc) of mycobacterium leprae showed changes in various parameters such as increased protein synthesis, levels of hydrolytic enzyme and augmented phagocytic ability indicating activation of the cells. furthermore, the surface structure of the cells were quite different from that of the macrophages of normal mice. these observations indicate that the peritoneal macrophages have been activated to phagocytose and kill m ... | 1993 | 8182287 |
| non acid-fast fluorescent m. leprae (?) in skin smears from leprosy patients. | smears from 74 known smear negative cases of leprosy were examined after staining with auramine 'o'. 40.54% cases were positive for fluorescent bacilli. 60.52% of cases on treatment and 19.44% cases after rft had fluorescent bacilli in the skin smears. results suggest the possibility of a non acid-fast fluorescent positive variant of m. leprae. | 1993 | 8182291 |
| nerve and skin damage in leprosy is associated with increased intralesional heat shock protein. | leprosy is frequently complicated by the development of reversal reactions in which peripheral nerve and skin lesions become inflamed and irreversible nerve damage may ensue. increased expression of proteins belonging to the 70-kd heat shock family (hsp 70) occurs in cells of the central nervous system exposed to hyperthermia, physical damage or drug-induced trauma. in the present study we have used immunocytochemical staining to monitor hsp70 levels in peripheral nerves infected by mycobacteriu ... | 1994 | 8187328 |
| an epidemiological study of leprosy infection by serology and polymerase chain reaction. | a population-based study has been carried out in two adjacent villages in a highly leprosy-endemic area of south sulawesi, indonesia. the prevalence of clinical leprosy was 10.0 per 1000 inhabitants. a total of 1015 serum samples and 1228 nasal swab specimens were collected. igm antibodies in blood to phenolic glycolipid-i (pgl-i) of mycobacterium leprae were demonstrated by the gelatin particle agglutination test (mlpa) and by indirect elisa (igm-pgl). igg antibodies to pgl-i (igg-pgl) and lipo ... | 1994 | 8189074 |
| incidence rates of leprosy in karonga district, northern malawi: patterns by age, sex, bcg status and classification. | this paper describes incidence rates by age, sex, prior bcg status and classification in karonga district, northern malawi. new cases (489) were identified among 83,500 individuals followed for an average of 5 years (1.12 cases per 1000 person years). only 29 (6%) of the incident cases were multibacillary. incidence rates generally were higher among females than males, and increased steadily with age. although the highest incidence rates of disease were recorded among young adults without bcg sc ... | 1994 | 8189075 |
| immunology of leprosy: lessons from and for leprosy. | | 1994 | 8189076 |
| the genome of mycobacterium leprae. | | 1994 | 8189077 |
| leprosy vaccines from cultivable mycobacteria. | | 1994 | 8189079 |
| detection of mycobacterium leprae in tissue and blood by polymerase chain reaction. | | 1994 | 8189082 |
| minimal bactericidal concentration of clarithromycin against m. leprae. | | 1994 | 8189083 |
| further study of the effectiveness of single doses of clarithromycin and minocycline against mycobacterium leprae in mice. | the anti-mycobacterium leprae activities of single doses of rifampin (rmp), clarithromycin (clari), or minocycline (mino) alone, and various combinations of clari + mino were determined in immunocompetent mice by the kinetic method. a single dose of rmp 10 mg/kg, clari 100 mg/kg or 200 mg/kg, mino 25 mg/kg or 50 mg/kg alone, or various combinations of clari & mino were active. rmp was more active than the other treatments; the activity of clari 100 mg/kg was greater than that of 50 mg/kg, but di ... | 1994 | 8189087 |
| therapeutic efficacy of benzoxazinorifamycin, krm-1648, in combination with other antimicrobials against mycobacterium leprae infection induced in nude mice. | in this study, the in vitro and in vivo anti-mycobacterium leprae activity of the newly developed benzoxazinorifamycin, krm-1648, in combination with clofazimine (cfz) or dapsone (dds) was evaluated. in vitro anti-m. leprae activities of krm-1648, cfz, and dds along with their combinations were measured by the bactec 460 tb system. krm-1648 (0.01 microgram/ml), cfz (0.5 microgram/ml), and dds (2.0 micrograms/ml exhibited a significant anti-m. leprae activity, reducing growth index (gi) values by ... | 1994 | 8189088 |
| igg response to purified 65- and 70-kda mycobacterial heat shock proteins and to antigen 85 in leprosy. | igg antibody response to mycobacterial heat-shock proteins (hsp) (the 70-kda antigen from mycobacterium tuberculosis and m. bovis bcg; the 65-kda antigen from m. leprae and m. bovis bcg) and to the fibronectin-binding antigen 85 from m. bovis bcg was analyzed in a dot-blot assay in plasma from leprosy patients and their contacts. most plasma--whatever the status of the subjects--reacted to the hsp 70; 8 of 9 (89%) of paucibacillary patients recognized the 65 mycobacterial hsp but only 2 of 9 (22 ... | 1994 | 8189089 |
| denatured muscle grafts for nerve repair in an experimental model of nerve damage in leprosy. 1. a functional and morphometric study. | the effectiveness of denatured autologous muscle grafts for nerve repair in an experimental model of leprosy was assessed. nerve damage resembling that caused by mycobacterium leprae in humans was induced by the injection of cobalt-irradiated m. leprae into the tibial nerve of guinea pigs. at the time of maximum functional loss, caused by the formation of a granuloma within the nerve, the area of damage was excised and a denatured autologous muscle graft was used to repair the nerve. assessment ... | 1994 | 8189090 |
| water soluble complexes of c14 and c16 fatty acids and alcohols in media for cultivation of leprosy-derived psychrophilic mycobacteria. | host-grown mycobacterium leprae cell suspensions oxidized water-soluble complexes of palmitic acid, myristic acid, cetyl alcohol, and myristyl alcohol prepared with randomly methylated-beta-cyclodextrin as host molecules. gas chromatography analysis showed that the water-soluble complexes retained their chemical structure following sterilization in the autoclave. bioavailability of the two long-chain fatty acids and the corresponding long-chain alcohols was confirmed by warburg manometric techni ... | 1994 | 8189091 |
| electron microscopic observations of the relationship between peripheral nerve tissue proper and an endoneurial capillary in a dermal lesion of relapsed lepromatous patient. | the origin of relapse in clinically cured leprosy patients and the dissemination of mycobacterium leprae in such patients are hitherto little understood phenomena. a detailed electron microscopical examination of a small dermal nerve in a lepromatous lesion of a presently relapsed patient was carried out. our observations showed the presence of m. leprae in schwann cells, perineurial cells, vacuolar spaces located in axoplasm and elsewhere. the course of a capillary, entering the endoneurium fro ... | 1994 | 8189092 |
| effect of mycobacterium leprae in peripheral nerve trunk on the evolution of skin lesions. | comparative histological studies were made of a) 41 peripheral nerve lesions and the skin in the area of supply, and b) 12 peripheral nerve lesions and concurrent but unrelated skin lesions. in the first study, small, relatively early, histologically classifiable skin lesions were found in all cases, even though there were no clinical lesions. in every case the lesion was centered on a dermal nerve. in some cases disruption of the perineurium was associated with emergence of the lesion into the ... | 1994 | 8189093 |
| t lymphocyte reactivity of leprosy patients and healthy contacts from a leprosy-endemic population to delipidified cell components of mycobacterium leprae. | in this study, we measured in vitro proliferative responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from both leprosy patients across the clinical spectrum and also healthy contacts from a leprosy-endemic population to delipidified cell components of mycobacterium leprae (dcc) and dharmendra lepromin. dharmendra lepromin was poor in inducing in vitro t cell proliferation in all the study groups, even though it elicited marked in vivo skin test reaction in tuberculoid leprosy patients and healthy c ... | 1994 | 8201834 |
| immunoblot studies in the differential diagnosis of porcine brucellosis: an immunodominant 62 kda protein is related to the mycobacterial 65 kda heat shock protein (hsp-65). | smooth brucella spp. share certain lipopolysaccharide antigens with other bacteria, resulting in serological cross-reactions which can prevent the definitive diagnosis of brucellosis. to identify other antigens with serodiagnostic potential, immunoblot studies following sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis were carried out. sera from pigs experimentally infected with brucella suis and naturally infected feral pigs, sera from pigs from a farm with a known history of yersinia ... | 1994 | 8203127 |
| clinical trial of clarithromycin for lepromatous leprosy. | clarithromycin was administered to nine previously untreated lepromatous leprosy patients. patients received two 1,500-mg doses on the first day, followed by 7 days of no treatment, in order to evaluate the potential efficacy of intermittent therapy. patients then received 1,000 mg daily for 2 weeks followed by 500 mg daily for 9 weeks. the efficacy of therapy was monitored clinically, by changes in morphological index, mouse footpad infectivity, and radiorespirometric activity of mycobacterium ... | 1994 | 8203847 |
| leprosy in women: characteristics and repercussions. | "health is often measured in terms of low mortality; nevertheless, merely being alive is not a measure of the quality of life" h. méndez castellanos. physiological, socioeconomic and cultural factors play important roles in the response of women to mycobacterium leprae and in the impact of leprosy on their lives. they appear to develop stronger immunological responses to m. leprae than men, as suggested by lower incidence and less severe clinical forms of disease in most areas of the world, as w ... | 1993 | 8211257 |
| attempts to cultivate mycobacterium leprae in fat tissue. | the behaviour of m. leprae in fat tissue was studied. preadipocyte cells were infected with m. leprae and injected intradermally (i.d.) into nude mice. adipose nodules obtained by in vivo differentiation of infected cells were maintained in vivo for 3 months and subsequently incubated in vitro for 3 months. counts of bacilli showed no increase over this 6 months period. it is concluded that undifferentiated preadipocyte and mature fat cells are not permissive for m. leprae. the morphological cha ... | 1993 | 8213048 |
| immunity to mycobacteria. | recent progress in the field of immunity to mycobacteria has centered on t cell subset responses and the cytokines these cells secrete. in addition, there has been steady progress in identifying and characterizing several classes of major mycobacterial proteins; included amongst these are the secreted/export proteins of mycobacterium tuberculosis, which several laboratories now believe may represent the key protective immunity-inducing antigens of the bacillus. | 1993 | 8216924 |
| anti-pgl1 levels in leprosy patients and their contacts. | 1. we determined the anti-pgl1 levels of 402 individuals from the ribeirão preto region since the phenolic glycolipid (pgl1) is a specific mycobacterium leprae antigen. this group consisted of 47 leprosy patients (26 with the lepromatous form, 16 with the tuberculoid form and 5 with the borderline form), 12 tuberculosis patients, 19 leprosy contacts, and 324 healthy blood donors from the hemocenter of the university hospital, faculty of medicine of ribeirão preto, university of são paulo. anti-p ... | 1993 | 8220267 |
| human t cells recognize mycobacterial heat shock proteins in the context of multiple hla-dr molecules: studies with healthy subjects vaccinated with mycobacterium bovis bcg and mycobacterium leprae. | heat shock proteins (hsp) are considered to be important targets of the immune response to mycobacteria and, as such, relevant to subunit vaccine design. if hsp are major antigens in cell-mediated immunity, they should be recognized in the context of most of the hla-dr molecules required for presentation of mycobacterial antigens to t cells. we tested peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmc) and t-cell lines from mycobacterium leprae- and m. bovis bcg-vaccinated subjects for proliferation in re ... | 1993 | 8225603 |
| quantitative determination of pcr products by colorimetric method. | | 1993 | 8226396 |
| construction of genomic dna library of mycobacterium leprae thai-53 strain, and detection of m. leprae specific genes in the library by polymerase chain reaction. | | 1993 | 8226397 |
| immune regulation: learning from leprosy. | the specific anergy seen in severe, disseminated leprosy appears to represent multifaceted actions of macrophages and suppressor t lymphocytes. identification of cytokine mediation in these events helps to account for the immune system's "choice" of cellular versus humoral defenses--and points toward manipulation of cytokine switches for immunotherapy against infectious and autoimmune disease. | 1993 | 8227249 |
| relationship between host histones and armadillo-derived mycobacterium leprae. | a major protein previously recognized as being primarily associated with the cell walls of mycobacterium leprae, major wall protein (mwp), is now identified as histoprotein h2b based on n-terminal amino-acid sequencing, electrophoretic comparisons, and several other properties. an avid association between several host/armadillo-derived histones and m. leprae was demonstrated. since such armadillo-derived m. leprae are the basis of several ongoing vaccine trials, a simple procedure that permits t ... | 1993 | 8228435 |
| detection of mycobacterium leprae by the polymerase chain reaction in nasal swabs of leprosy patients and their contacts. | nose swabs from 4 paucibacillary (pb) and 8 multibacillary (mb) leprosy patients and their contacts were tested for the presence of mycobacterium leprae by two polymerase chain reactions (pcr); 30% of the samples contained inhibitors for the pcr, 1 of 52 (1.9%) swabs and 13 of 164 (7.9%) swabs were positive for m. leprae among contacts of pb and mb patients, respectively. since this difference is not significant, and some positives were found among contacts of mb patients treated and cured of th ... | 1993 | 8228436 |
| armadillos (dasypus novemcinctus) as a model to test antileprosy vaccines; a preliminary report. | the efficacy of two candidate leprosy vaccines, bcg and a mixture of bcg and killed mycobacterium leprae, was tested in 62 armadillos caught in the wild. the abilities of the vaccines to convert lepromin-negative armadillos to a positive reaction were compared with a group of control animals. both vaccines upgraded subsequent lepromin skin-test histopathology. the conversion results parallel the protection values obtained in some bcg vaccine trials against leprosy in humans. before conducting ex ... | 1993 | 8228437 |
| reconstitution of mycobacterium leprae immunity in severe combined immunodeficient mice using a t-cell line. | to test whether mycobacterium leprae-immune t cells can confer protection against infection with leprosy bacilli, severe combined immunodeficient (scid) mice were reconstituted with a balb/c-derived, m. leprae-responsive, t-cell line. flow cytometric analysis of spleen and peripheral blood cells confirmed reconstitution with t cells. in vitro lymphokine production and the proliferation of spleen cells from the reconstituted animals established that the donor cells had maintained their functional ... | 1993 | 8228438 |
| activity of phenazine analogs against mycobacterium leprae infections in mice. | twenty-five compounds structurally related to clofazimine were tested for their ability to inhibit the growth of mycobacterium leprae using the kinetic method of drug evaluation in the mouse foot pad model of leprosy. seven of the phenazine derivatives displayed anti-m. leprae activity comparable to that of clofazimine when administered at a concentration of 0.01% (w/w) in the diet. three of the compounds, b746, b4087, and b4101, were active when administered at 0.001% in the diet. at a dietary ... | 1993 | 8228439 |
| preservation of mycobacterium leprae in vitro for four years by lyophilization. | although the viability of mycobacterium leprae suspended in distilled water with or without 10% fetal calf serum was reduced approximately 10(-2) to 10(-4) from that of the starting material during the process of lyophilization, bacilli capable of multiplication in nude mouse foot pads were found in the lyophilized samples stored for 4 years at 4 degrees c. the multiplication rate of the lyophilized bacilli which were suspended in 10% serum-water was much higher than that of the bacilli suspende ... | 1993 | 8228440 |
| immunoreactivity of mycobacterial strain icrc and mycobacterium leprae antigens with polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. | icrc, a cultivable mycobacterium, is undergoing clinical trials as an antileprosy vaccine in india. in the present study, we have investigated the crossreactivity between antigens of the mycobacterial strains of icrc and mycobacterium leprae using polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies in a radioimmunoprecipitation assay. it was observed that polyclonal anti-icrc and anti-m. leprae antibodies showed predominant reactivity to a 21-kda protein of the mycobacterial strain icrc and the 21- and 14-kda ... | 1993 | 8228441 |
| higher specificity in the serodiagnosis of leprosy by combined titration of antiphenolic glycolipid-i and antiphospholipid antibodies. | | 1993 | 8228448 |
| evaluation of the autoimmune response in leprosy. | immunological responses to a panel of antigens were evaluated in 27 patients with lepromatous and 20 patients with tuberculoid leprosy and compared with 24 pulmonary tuberculosis patients, 25 systemic lupus erythematosus patients and 41 healthy blood donors. some autoantibody specificities were extensively studied for the first time in mycobacterial infections. striking immunoserological abnormalities were found in patients with lepromatous leprosy, particularly in those presenting with relapse. ... | 1993 | 8231599 |
| modulation of peripheral blood derived monocytes/macrophages from leprosy patients using 'tuftsin' for production of reactive oxygen intermediates. | phagocytic cells respond to a variety of membrane stimulants by producing reactive oxygen intermediates (roi), i.e. o2-, h2o2 and oh.metabolites. plasma membrane activation is associated with superoxide generating nadph oxidase, thereby causing the production of these toxic species. stimulation of phagocytic cells also results in activation of purine catabolism, which directs the metabolic flux through xanthine oxidase to produce the superoxide anion. we previously observed that bl/ll macrophage ... | 1993 | 8231600 |
| pgl-i antibody in hiv infected patients. | | 1993 | 8231609 |
| roles of soluble fibronectin and beta 1 integrin receptors in the binding of mycobacterium leprae to nasal epithelial cells. | the mechanisms by which mycobacterium leprae invades the human host are presently unknown. we investigated the ability of m. leprae to bind to human rpmi 2650 cells, a human nasal septal epithelial cell line, using both microscopic observation and an elisa technique. the results demonstrated that m. leprae adheres to nasal cells after binding to soluble fibronectin. furthermore, it was observed that m. leprae could bind to the beta 1 chain of the integrins in the absence of serum or mucus. these ... | 1993 | 8242899 |
| metabolism and pharmacokinetics of [14c]-deoxyfructosylserotonin creatinine sulfate administered orally and intravenously to rats and mice. | deoxyfructosylserotonin (dfs) has been shown in in vitro tests to inhibit l-dopa-oxidase and also to suppress the multiplication of mycobacterium leprae. the possible therapeutic use of dfs makes necessary the study of its metabolic fate in animal models. labelled [14c]-dfs was synthesized by condensation of serotonin and [14c]-glucose and administered per os or intravenously to rats and mice. after oral administration, some of the radioactivity transited through the intestinal tract to be excre ... | 1993 | 8243496 |
| sequence and expression of the mycobacterium leprae dnaj gene. | study of mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, has been advanced by the isolation of genes encoding mycobacterial proteins including dnak encoding the m. leprae 70 kda heat shock protein. the sequence downstream from dnak revealed a second open reading frame coding for a protein of 389 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 41.2 kda. sequence analysis demonstrated significant dna homology with the dnaj gene of other organisms. high amino acid sequence identity was obtain ... | 1993 | 8245828 |
| investigations into the growth of mycobacterium leprae in a medium with palmitic acid under different gaseous environments. | low oxygen tension has often been considered important for the growth of mycobacterium leprae. palmitic acid has been suggested as the oxidizable substrate for the in vitro cultivation of leprosy bacilli. the combined effects of palmitic acid and various known gas mixtures on the in vitro growth of m. leprae were investigated. when palmitic acid was included in the medium an optimal growth in both liquid and solid media was obtained between 16 to 20 weeks of incubation under gas mixtures contain ... | 1993 | 8246810 |
| subclinical infection with mycobacterium leprae--a problem for leprosy control strategies. | tests for the serodiagnosis of leprosy, including those based on phenolic glycolipid-i (pgl-i), have shown poor specificity for leprosy in studies of endemic communities, despite initially promising results in studies of selected patients. during a 5 years follow-up study of a hyperendemic community in papua new guinea, a marked reduction in numbers of seropositive children and an increase in age of those seropositive followed introduction of multi-drug therapy. this was accompanied by a reduced ... | 1993 | 8249066 |
| the role of the macrophage in resistance to the leprosy bacillus. | | 1994 | 8251574 |
| detection of heat shock protein in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. | we have investigated whether antibodies to heat shock protein (hsp) 65 are present in sera from patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus by using mycobacterium leprae hsp65. fifty-two sera from patients with iddm, 36 from patients with unclassified insulin-treated diabetes mellitus and 41 from normal healthy controls were examined by elisa assay. seventeen (32.7%) out of 52 iddm sera and 10 (27.8%) out of unclassified insulin-treated diabetic sera were positive for anti-mycobacterium (a ... | 1993 | 8253018 |
| nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (nasba) for the identification of mycobacteria. | nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (nasba), an isothermal amplification technique for nucleic acids (na), was investigated for the species-specific identification of mycobacteria. a set of primers was selected from a highly conserved region of the 16s rrna sequence of mycobacteria sandwiching a variable sequence to perform amplification of mycobacterial rna. species-specific probes for the m. tuberculosis complex, m. avium-paratuberculosis, m. intracellulare and m. leprae were hybridized ... | 1993 | 8254312 |
| ifn-gamma, il-6 and il-4 modulate m. leprae- or ppd-specific cytotoxic t cells in leprosy patients. | specific cytotoxic t cells against intracellular pathogens may be generated in vitro. on the other hand it is well known that cytokines can regulate almost every aspect of immune function. the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of some cytokines on the generation of cytotoxic t cells with specificity for mycobacterium leprae- or ppd-pulsed autologous macrophages from leprosy patients and normal controls. peripheral blood mononuclear cells from m. bovis bcg-immunized controls or from le ... | 1993 | 8256114 |
| powerful bactericidal activities of clarithromycin and minocycline against mycobacterium leprae in lepromatous leprosy. | thirty-six patients with newly diagnosed lepromatous leprosy were allocated randomly to three groups and treated for 56 days with minocycline (100 mg daily), clarithromycin (500 mg daily), or clarithromycin (500 mg) plus minocycline (100 mg daily). all groups had rapid and remarkable clinical improvement and significant decline of the bacterial and morphologic indices in skin smears during treatment. more than 99% and > 99.9% of the viable mycobacterium leprae had been killed by 28 and 56 days o ... | 1993 | 8257487 |
| t cells bearing v beta 6 t cell receptors in the cell-mediated immune response to mycobacterium leprae. | the skin lesions of leprosy provide a window into the immunoregulatory events involved in the human immune response to infection. t cells are thought to play a vital role in the pathogenesis of different forms of the disease. to identify predominant specific t cell subpopulations in leprosy lesions, the tcr-beta chain repertoire was simultaneously studied in skin biopsy specimens and pbmc from both immunologically resistant tuberculoid leprosy and susceptible lepromatous leprosy patients. this w ... | 1993 | 8258714 |
| a novel, antigen-presenting function of melanocytes and its possible relationship to hypopigmentary disorders. | it is now well established that cultured human melanocytes are capable of expressing immunologically important cell surface molecules and that they can produce cytokines. not all cells with the ability to express mhc class ii molecules are capable of effective ag presentation. however, the dendritic nature of melanocytes, their strategic position within the skin, and their phagocytic capacity seem to suggest a role for these cells in processing and presenting ag. this study demonstrates that cul ... | 1993 | 8258725 |
| characterization of a mycobacterium leprae antigen related to the secreted mycobacterium tuberculosis protein mpt32. | secreted proteins may serve as major targets in the immune response to mycobacteria. to identify potentially secreted mycobacterium leprae antigens, antisera specific for culture filtrate proteins of mycobacterium tuberculosis were used to screen a panel of recombinant antigens selected previously by leprosy patient sera. four potentially secreted antigens were identified by this approach, and one was recognized by antibodies specific for mpt32, a secreted m. tuberculosis protein. the dna coding ... | 1994 | 8262636 |
| a role for natural antibody in the pathogenesis of leprosy: antibody in nonimmune serum mediates c3 fixation to the mycobacterium leprae surface and hence phagocytosis by human mononuclear phagocytes. | we have previously determined that complement receptors on human mononuclear phagocytes and complement component c3 in nonimmune serum mediate phagocytosis of the intracellular bacterial pathogen mycobacterium leprae, the agent of leprosy. we have also determined that c3 fixes selectively to the major surface glycolipid of m. leprae, phenolic glycolipid 1 (pgl-1). in this study, we have explored the role of natural antibody in nonimmune serum in c3 fixation and c1q binding to m. leprae and pgl-1 ... | 1994 | 8262640 |
| in-vitro activity of three new fluoroquinolones and synergy with ansamycins against mycobacterium leprae. | the efficacy of three fluorinated quinolones, clinafloxacin (pd 127391), sparfloxacin (pd 131501) and pd 131628, either alone or in combination with rifampicin/rifabutin, against mycobacterium leprae was evaluated in vitro using two biochemical parameters to measure the metabolic activity of the organism. clinafloxacin was found to be most effective with an mic of 0.75 mg/l, followed by sparfloxacin (mic 1.5 mg/l) and pd131628 (mic 3.0 mg/l). when combined with rifampicin each of the three quino ... | 1993 | 8262866 |