| antigen-specific t-cell responses of leprosy patients. | the identification of human t-cell antigens of mycobacterium leprae could improve treatment and help to disrupt the transmission of leprosy by directing diagnosis and vaccine programs. this study screened a panel of m. leprae recombinant proteins for t-cell recall responses, measured by gamma interferon (ifn-gamma) production, among leprosy patients. after initial studies using peripheral blood mononuclear cells from leprosy patients, we transitioned our studies to simple whole-blood assays (wba ... | 2008 | 18784342 |
| diagnosing multibacillary leprosy: a comparative evaluation of diagnostic accuracy of slit-skin smear, bacterial index of granuloma and who operational classification. | in view of the relatively poor performance of skin smears who adopted a purely clinical operational classification, however the poor specificity of operational classification leads to overdiagnosis and unwarranted overtreatment while the poor sensitivity leads to underdiagnosis of multibacillary (mb) cases with inadequate treatment. bacilli are more frequently and abundantly demonstrated in tissue sections. | 2008 | 18797050 |
| does nerve examination improve diagnostic efficacy of the who classification of leprosy? | in the year 1998 who proposed that the clinical criteria of counting skin lesions alone should decide whether a patient receives multibacillary (mb) or paucibacillary (pb) mdt. there is a concern that a significant number of patients may be incorrectly treated under these guidelines. | 2008 | 18797051 |
| contact with armadillos increases the risk of leprosy in brazil: a case control study. | mycobacterium leprae infection has recently been detected in wild armadillos in brazil. leprosy is still endemic in brazil and although its transmission is mostly by person-to-person contact, many cases report no history of previously known leprosy contact. it has been suggested that other sources of m. leprae may contribute to the transmission of leprosy in some areas. aim: our objective was to investigate whether contact with armadillos is associated with leprosy. | 2008 | 18797053 |
| [drug resistance of multibacillary leprosy patients in japan--results of molecular genetic analyses]. | gene mutation of mycobacterium leprae was studied on bacilli-positive multibacillary leprosy patients since 2000 in japan. subjects: ll 31 cases, bl 7 cases. results: gene mutation of folp was found in 19/36 cases (52.8%), that of rpob in 13/33 cases (39.4%), that of gyra in 6/31 cases (16.8%). five cases showed both mutations of folp and rpob, and one case showed those of fol/p and gyra. mutations of folp, rpob andgyra all were found in 4/36 cases (10.3%). high incidence of resistance to dds or ... | 2008 | 18800639 |
| [history for animal model of hansen's disease and characteristics of leprosy in hypertensive nude rat]. | the long search of an animal model for leprosy were carried out as many researchers since the mycobacterium leprae discovery by dr. hansen in 1874. the remarkable results were left after the development of the foot-pad method by dr. shepard in 1960. the introduction of the t-r mouse and athymic (nude) mouse for leprosy research, alsospontaneity examples of hansen's disease was reported to armadillo, chimpanzee and mangabay monkey, and it was confirmed that hansen's disease was the zoonosis. alth ... | 2008 | 18800640 |
| leprosy-related joint involvement. | we estimate the prevalence and evaluate the clinical characteristics of leprosy related arthritis. one thousand, two hundred fifty-seven leprosy patients were attended at "alfredo da matta" outpatient clinic in the state of amazonas, brazil from july to october 2004. among them, 115 patients were identified with articular pain and were referred for evaluation with rheumatologist. blood samples were collected and radiological evaluation of the involved joints was performed. all patients with arth ... | 2009 | 18807102 |
| a novel method for simple detection of mutations conferring drug resistance in mycobacterium leprae, based on a dna microarray, and its applicability in developing countries. | a simple method to detect mutations in the genome of mycobacterium leprae that confer resistance to key drugs for leprosy was exploited on the basis of a reverse hybridization system. a series of oligonucleotide probes corresponding to each mutation in the folp1, rpob and gyra genes for dapsone, rifampicin and ofloxacin resistance, respectively, were selected and fixed on a glass slide as capture probes, to develop a dna microarray termed the leprosy drug susceptibility-dna microarray (lds-da). ... | 2008 | 18809547 |
| the spatial distribution of leprosy in four villages in bangladesh: an observational study. | there is a higher case-detection rate for leprosy among spatially proximate contacts such as household members and neighbors. spatial information regarding the clustering of leprosy can be used to improve intervention strategies. identifying high-risk areas within villages around known cases can be helpful in finding new cases. | 2008 | 18811968 |
| a genomic view on nitrogen metabolism and nitrogen control in mycobacteria. | knowledge about nitrogen metabolism and control in the genus mycobacterium is sparse, especially compared to the state of knowledge in related actinomycetes like streptomyces coelicolor or the close relative corynebacterium glutamicum. therefore, we screened the published genome sequences of mycobacterium smegmatis, mycobacterium tuberculosis, mycobacterium bovis, mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae for genes encoding proteins for uptake of nitrogen sources, nitrog ... | 2009 | 18824837 |
| a study of the morphology of mycobacterium leprae by electron microscopy. | | 1948 | 18877283 |
| immunology of leprosy; antigens derived from mycobacterium leprae in oily suspension. | | 1947 | 18919926 |
| long simple sequence repeats in host-adapted pathogens localize near genes encoding antigens, housekeeping genes, and pseudogenes. | simple sequence repeats (ssrs) in dna sequences are tandem iterations of a single nucleotide or a short oligonucleotide. ssrs are subject to slipped-strand mutations and a common source of phase variation in bacteria and antigenic variation in pathogens. significantly long ssrs are generally rare in prokaryotic genomes, and long ssrs composed of iterations of mono-, di-, tri-, and tetranucleotides are mostly restricted to host-adapted pathogens. we present new results concerning associations bet ... | 2008 | 18925380 |
| [not available]. | | 1948 | 18935251 |
| serological diagnosis of leprosy in patients in vietnam by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with mycobacterium leprae-derived major membrane protein ii. | a serological diagnostic test using phenolic glycolipid-i (pgl-i) developed in the 1980s is commercially available, but the method is still inefficient in detecting all forms of leprosy. therefore, more-specific and -reliable serological methods have been sought. we have characterized major membrane protein ii (mmp-ii) as a candidate protein for a new serological antigen. in this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) using the mmp-ii antigen (mmp- ... | 2008 | 18945881 |
| immunogenicity and protective efficacy of "mycobacterium w" against mycobacterium tuberculosis in mice immunized with live versus heat-killed m. w by the aerosol or parenteral route. | as the disease caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis continues to be a burden, there is a concerted effort to find new vaccines to combat this problem. one of the important vaccine strategies is whole bacterial vaccines. this approach relies on multiple antigens and built-in adjuvanticity. other mycobacterial strains which share cross-reactive antigens with m. tuberculosis have been considered as alternatives to m. bovis for vaccine use. one such strain, "mycobacterium w", had been evaluated for ... | 2009 | 18981249 |
| enumeration of mycobacterium leprae using real-time pcr. | mycobacterium leprae is not cultivable in axenic media, and direct microscopic enumeration of the bacilli is complex, labor intensive, and suffers from limited sensitivity and specificity. we have developed a real-time pcr assay for quantifying m. leprae dna in biological samples. primers were identified to amplify a shared region of the multicopy repeat sequence (rlep) specific to m. leprae and tested for sensitivity and specificity in the taqman format. the assay was specific for m. leprae and ... | 2008 | 18982056 |
| efficient chemical synthesis of a dodecasaccharidyl lipomannan component of mycobacterial lipoarabinomannan. | lipomannan (lm) is one of the domains of lipoarabinomannan (lam) glycolipids, the latter being one of several cell surface organic molecules that fortify mycobacterial species against external attack. some members of mycobacterial families are pathogenic, most notably mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae, while others are nonpathogenic, and used in the clinic, such as mycobacterium smegmatis. additional biological significance arises from the fact that lm has been implicated in se ... | 2008 | 18989931 |
| [lepromatous leprosy revealed by a swollen hands syndrome]. | osteoarticular pathology in leprosy is common and described at all stages, but rarely as the most evident clinical manifestation. we report a case of borderline lepromatous leprosy with initial and disabling hands edema. the swollen hands syndrome is probably due to chronic mycobacterium leprae tenosynovitis. | 2009 | 18993001 |
| rapid hiv testing among leprosy patients: a brazilian experience. | | 2008 | 19000392 |
| [evaluation of training programs in hansen's disease: opinion of physicians and nurses of family health teams]. | hansen's disease is a contagious, milenar disease caused by the mycobacterium leprae that manifests itself in the cutaneal cells and the peripheral nerves. in the decade of 1990, the control for the disease was descentralized from the state to the municipality level. a northeastern state in brazil implemented a series of training programs for health professionals in primary attention. the objective of this study was to evaluate these training programs, based on the opinions of the physicians and ... | 2008 | 19009106 |
| [detection of mycobacterium leprae dna in nasal swab]. | studies have demonstrated high sensibility of the polimerase chain reaction (pcr) technique in the identification of the mycobacterium leprae dna . this study aimed to evalue the pcr sensibility at the detection of the m. leprae dna in nasal swab of leprosy patients and to compare the results with the bacilloscopy and multibacillary (mbs) and paucibacilares (pbs) forms. nasal secretion samples of 24 leprosy patients were collected, and were preserved in one and two lise's solution. the pcr resul ... | 2008 | 19009116 |
| the biology of nerve injury in leprosy. | the steps in the pathogenesis of nerve injury in leprosy are depicted in figure 1. localisation of m. leprae to nerve, schwann cell infection & responses, as yet unknown mechanisms of injury, axonal atrophy, and finally demyelination. these steps, and the mechanisms responsible for them, occur quickly in the course of this disease (as noted, even the earliest diagnostic lesions have sensory abnormalities), but they are also chronic processes that may contribute to progressive nerve injury over a ... | 2008 | 19009974 |
| erythema nodosum leprosum in nepal: a retrospective study of clinical features and response to treatment with prednisolone or thalidomide. | erythema nodosum leprosum (enl) is an inflammatory reaction, which may occur in the course of leprosy and may result in nerve function impairment and subsequent disability. | 2008 | 19009975 |
| an 8-12 year follow-up of highly bacillated indian leprosy patients treated with who multi-drug therapy. | to follow up highly bacillated leprosy patients for a long period after release from treatment (rft) and to look out for possibility of relapses. | 2008 | 19009979 |
| activation of complement by mycobacterium leprae requires disruption of the bacilli. | the immune-mediated events that precipitate erythema nodosum leprosum (enl) are not well understood. one component may be the complexing of antibody with antigens released from infected macrophages, the activation of complement and the subsequent local inflammation. we assess here the ability of highly-purified, disrupted m. leprae, to activate complement. | 2008 | 19009980 |
| assessment of subclinical leprosy infection through the measurement of pgl-1 antibody levels in residents of a former leprosy colony in thailand. | to investigate the hypothesis that there is continuing subclinical m. leprae infection, contributing to ongoing transmission of leprosy in phra-pradaeng colony. | 2008 | 19009981 |
| relapses in multibacillary leprosy patients after multidrug therapy. | to determine the magnitude of relapses in multibacillary leprosy patients after multi-drug therapy and to determine the factors influencing the relapse. | 2008 | 19009982 |
| two microbiological relapses in a patient with lepromatous leprosy. | a lepromatous patient treated with dapsone in the pre-mdt era to the point of smear negativity (> 6 years), relapsed 5 years after stopping treatment. he was then put on who-mdt for multibacillary (mb) leprosy, and was treated again; he had negative slit skin smears (3 years). he again presented with a relapse of leprosy 17 years after stopping treatment, and this time he presented with borderline leprosy in reaction. | 2008 | 19009984 |
| schwann cell invasion by m. leprae: the probable trojan horse. | | 2008 | 19009985 |
| can primary health centres offer care to the leprosy-disabled after integration with general health services?--a study in rural india. | | 2008 | 19009987 |
| histoid leprosy: a retrospective study of 40 cases from india. | rare variants of leprosy pose a diagnostic challenge even to astute clinicians and histoid leprosy is one such form of disease with unique clinical and histopathological features. there are very few large series on this entity, mainly reported from india. | 2009 | 19016704 |
| a new mycobacterium species causing diffuse lepromatous leprosy. | mycobacterium leprae causes leprosy. m leprae strains collected worldwide have been genetically clonal, which poorly explains the varying severity and clinical features of the disease. we discovered a new mycobacterium species from 2 patients who died of diffuse lepromatous leprosy (dll). the mycobacterium was purified from heavily infected, freshly frozen autopsy liver tissue followed by dna extraction in 1 case. paraffin-embedded skin tissue was used for dna extraction in another case. six gen ... | 2008 | 19019760 |
| dnahsp65 vaccination induces protection in mice against paracoccidioides brasiliensis infection. | heat-shock proteins are molecules with extensive data showing their potential as immunomodulators of different types of diseases. the gene of hsp65 from mycobacterium leprae has shown prophylactic and immunotherapeutic effects against a broad arrays of experimental models including tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, arthritis and diabetes. with this in mind, we tested the dnahsp65 vaccine using an experimental model of paraccocidiodomycosis, an important endemic mycosis in latin america. the intramusc ... | 2009 | 19028537 |
| do human gammadelta t cells respond to m tuberculosis protein antigens? | | 2008 | 19029457 |
| classification of leprosy into multibacillary and paucibacillary groups: an analysis. | classification of leprosy patients into multibacillary and paucibacillary determines the duration of their treatment. misclassification leads to increased risk of relapse due to insufficient treatment if a multibacillary patient is classified as paucibacillary. this also prolongs the time the patient is infective. over the years, the criteria used for classification (for treatment purpose) of leprosy patients have changed significantly from bacterial index measuring approach through number of sk ... | 2009 | 19040664 |
| functional characterization of a small heat shock protein from mycobacterium leprae. | small heat shock proteins are ubiquitous family of stress proteins, having a role in virulence and survival of the pathogen. m. leprae, the causative agent of leprosy is an uncultivable organism in defined media, hence the biology and function of proteins were examined by cloning m. leprae genes in heterologous hosts. the study on shsp18 was carried out as the knowledge about the functions of this major immunodominant antigen of m. leprae is scanty. | 2008 | 19040732 |
| leprosy pathogenetic background: a review and lessons from other mycobacterial diseases. | leprosy is a disease caused by mycobacterium leprae that initially affects the peripheral nervous system with patients exhibiting contrasting clinical, immunological, and pathological manifestations despite minimal genetic variation among bacilli isolates. its clinical manifestations are related to m. leprae survival, innate and acquired immune responses, and interactions between host and bacterial proteins, preventing their invasion and infection, or promoting their development and pathogenesis ... | 2009 | 19043725 |
| expression of adipose differentiation-related protein (adrp) and perilipin in macrophages infected with mycobacterium leprae. | mycobacterium leprae survives and replicates within a lipid droplet stored in the enlarged phagosome of histiocytes, a typical feature of lepromatous leprosy that is thought to be an important nutrient source for the bacillus. however, the underlying mechanisms by which lipids accumulate within phagosomes remain unclear. recently, it was revealed that the lipid droplet-associated proteins, including adrp and perilipin, play essential roles in lipid accumulation in adipocytes or macrophages. ther ... | 2008 | 19054096 |
| wade histoid leprosy masquerading as eruptive xanthomas. | | 2008 | 19061579 |
| lepromatous leprosy. | lepromatous leprosy is a form of chronic granulomatous disease that is caused by infection with mycobacterium leprae. early involvement is marked by widespread, ill-defined, erythematous papules and plaques. with early intervention, leprosy is a curable disease; however, if not recognized and treated promptly, permanent sequelae and disability result. we present a patient with long-standing lepromatous leprosy who exhibits many of these sequelae. | 2008 | 19061626 |
| identification, characterization, and azole-binding properties of mycobacterium smegmatis cyp164a2, a homolog of ml2088, the sole cytochrome p450 gene of mycobacterium leprae. | the genome sequence of mycobacterium leprae revealed a single open reading frame, ml2088 (cyp164a1), encoding a putative full-length cytochrome p450 monooxygenase and 12 pseudogenes. we have identified a homolog of ml2088 in mycobacterium smegmatis and report here the cloning, expression, purification, and azole-binding characteristics of this cytochrome p450 (cyp164a2). cyp164a2 is 1,245 bp long and encodes a protein of 414 amino acids and molecular mass of 45 kda. cyp164a2 has 60% identity wit ... | 2009 | 19075057 |
| gm-csf-mediated t-cell activation by macrophages infected with recombinant bcg that secretes major membrane protein-ii of mycobacterium leprae. | the potential of mycobacterium bovis bacillus calmette-guerin (bcg) needs to be augmented to efficiently activate cd4(+) t cells through macrophages. mycobacterium leprae-derived recombinant major membrane protein (mmp)-ii induced gm-csf production from macrophages. a recombinant bcg-sm that secretes mmp-ii more efficiently produced gm-csf and activated interferon (ifn)-gamma-producing cd4(+) t cells than did vector control bcg when infected with macrophages. the t-cell activation by bcg-sm was ... | 2009 | 19076223 |
| leprosy and peripheral neuropathy. | leprosy, although rare in the united states, continues to be a leading cause of peripheral neuropathy and blindness worldwide. we describe the pathogenic agent mycobacterium leprae and discuss the epidemiology of this disease. the different classification schemes are compared and the clinical and laboratory features are presented. finally, the immunology, pathology, and the treatment are discussed. | 2004 | 19078734 |
| genetic, epidemiological and biological analysis of interleukin-10 promoter single-nucleotide polymorphisms suggests a definitive role for -819c/t in leprosy susceptibility. | leprosy is a complex infectious disease influenced by genetic and environmental factors. the genetic contributing factors are considered heterogeneous and several genes have been consistently associated with susceptibility like park2, tumor necrosis factor (tnf), lymphotoxin-alpha (lta) and vitamin-d receptor (vdr). here, we combined a case-control study (374 patients and 380 controls), with meta-analysis (5 studies; 2702 individuals) and biological study to test the epidemiological and physiolo ... | 2009 | 19110537 |
| antileprosy activity and preliminary toxicological characteristics of some dialkyldithiocarbamate derivatives. | antileprosy activity of dialkyldithiocarbamate derivatives was studied in experiments on mice infected with m. leprae into paw pads. we found that 2-diethyldithiocarbamoyl-3-cyano-5-nitropyridine is the most promising antileprosy agent; it effectively suppresses multiplication of m. leprae and is well tolerated under conditions of chronic animal experiment. | 2008 | 19110590 |
| in silico comparison of simple sequence repeats in high nucleotides-rich genomes of microorganism. | this study determined the distribution of a specific group of simple sequence repeats (ssrs), in genome sequences of 7 chromosomes (shigella flexneri 2a str 301 and 2457 t, shigella sonnei, e. coli k12, m. tuberculosis, m. leprae and s. saprophytycus) have downloaded from the genbank database for identifying abundance, distribution and composition of ssrs. the data obtained in the present study show that: (i) tandem repeats are widely distributed throughout the genomes. (ii) ssrs are differentia ... | 2008 | 19137845 |
| single lesion multibacillary leprosy, a treatment enigma: a case report. | abstract: | 2009 | 19144101 |
| silica-based cationic bilayers as immunoadjuvants. | silica particles cationized by dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide (dodab) bilayer were previously described. this work shows the efficiency of these particulates for antigen adsorption and presentation to the immune system and proves the concept that silica-based cationic bilayers exhibit better performance than alum regarding colloid stability and cellular immune responses for vaccine design. | 2009 | 19152701 |
| question: can you identify this condition? tuberculoid leprosy. | | 2009 | 19155370 |
| identification of two proteins that interact with the erp virulence factor from mycobacterium tuberculosis by using the bacterial two-hybrid system. | the exported repetitive protein (erp) gene encodes a secreted 36-kda protein with a central domain containing several proline-glycine-leucine-threonine-serine (pglts) repeats. it has been demonstrated that erp is a virulence-associated factor since the disruption of this gene impairs the growth of mycobacterium bovis and mycobacterium tuberculosis in mice. | 2009 | 19159459 |
| mycobacterium tuberculosis rv3802c encodes a phospholipase/thioesterase and is inhibited by the antimycobacterial agent tetrahydrolipstatin. | the cell wall of m. tuberculosis is central to its success as a pathogen. mycolic acids are key components of this cell wall. the genes involved in joining the alpha and mero mycolates are located in a cluster, beginning with rv3799c and extending at least until rv3804c. the role of each enzyme encoded by these five genes is fairly well understood, except for rv3802c. rv3802 is one of seven putative cutinases encoded by the genome of m. tuberculosis. in phytopathogens, cutinases hydrolyze the wa ... | 2009 | 19169353 |
| from genome-based in silico predictions to ex vivo verification of leprosy diagnosis. | the detection of hundreds of thousands of new cases of leprosy every year suggests that transmission of mycobacterium leprae infection still continues. unfortunately, tools for identification of asymptomatic disease and/or early-stage m. leprae infection (likely sources of transmission) are lacking. the recent identification of m. leprae-unique genes has allowed the analysis of human t-cell responses to novel m. leprae antigens. antigens with the most-promising diagnostic potential were tested f ... | 2009 | 19176694 |
| leprosy: not always an easy diagnosis and often a management challenge. | leprosy is rare in australia, particularly in the southern states. we report two cases of leprosy in southern australia that presented to the dermatology outpatients' department within a 4-month period. the presentation of the first case was complex, making the correct diagnosis difficult. both cases involved immigrants from south-east asia, were classified as multi-bacillary leprosy as defined by the world health organization, and were commenced on the recommended multiple drug therapy. the ens ... | 2009 | 19178490 |
| diagnostic usefulness of a t-cell-based assay for extrapulmonary tuberculosis in immunocompromised patients. | the low reactivity of the tuberculin skin test limits its clinical use in immunocompromised patients with extrapulmonary tuberculosis. a recently developed t-cell-based assay for diagnosing tuberculosis infection gave promising results. however, there were few data on the usefulness of this assay for diagnosing extrapulmonary tuberculosis in immunocompromised patients. | 2009 | 19185094 |
| [utility of molecular biology in the microbiological diagnosis of mycobacterial infections]. | species within the mycobacterium genus are of major medical interest, since, together with environmental and opportunistic species, there are two species (mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae) that remain an important public health challenge. despite efforts to control tuberculosis (tb), this disease remains one of the most prominent health problems worldwide. in the last few years, mycobacteriology has experienced major technological advances. nevertheless, the early diagnosis of ... | 2008 | 19195445 |
| immune response to vaccination with dna-hsp65 in a phase i clinical trial with head and neck cancer patients. | dna-hsp65, a dna vaccine encoding the 65-kda heat-shock protein of mycobacterium leprae (hsp65) is capable of inducing the reduction of established tumors in mouse models. we conducted a phase i clinical trial of dna-hsp65 in patients with advanced head and neck carcinoma. in this article, we report on the vaccine's potential to induce immune responses to hsp65 and to its human homologue, hsp60, in these patients. twenty-one patients with unresectable squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck ... | 2009 | 19197326 |
| is leprosy spreading among nine-banded armadillos in the southeastern united states? | in the united states, nine-banded armadillo (dasypus novemcinctus) populations are derived from two sources: (1) a continuous range expansion from mexico led to western populations, some of which, particularly along the western gulf coast and west side of the mississippi river delta, exhibit persistently high rates of leprosy infection, and (2) a small group of animals released from captivity in florida gave rise to eastern populations that were all considered leprosy free. given that western an ... | 2009 | 19204343 |
| heparin-binding hemagglutinin (hbha) of mycobacterium leprae is expressed during infection and enhances bacterial adherence to epithelial cells. | a heparin-binding hemagglutinin (hbha) expressed on the surface of mycobacterium tuberculosis is an antigenic protein that has been implicated in bacterial adherence to epithelial cells and systemic dissemination. in this study, the potential role of the mycobacterium leprae hbha (ml-hbha) homologue in leprosy was investigated. initially, the in vivo expression of hbha and its association with the m. leprae cell envelope was confirmed by immunoblotting and proteomic analysis. mycobacterium lepra ... | 2009 | 19220476 |
| temperature dependency for survival of mycobacterium leprae in macrophages. | hansen's disease is caused by an infection with an intracellular pathogen, mycobacterium leprae, which mainly inhabits macrophages and schwann cells. however, little is known about the survival or growth mechanisms of the bacilli in mouse and human macrophages. in the present study, by using radiorespirometry analysis for the evaluation of the viability of m. leprae, we observed that in vitro incubation of m. leprae-infected macrophages at 35 degrees c was more growth permissive than at 37 degre ... | 2009 | 19227144 |
| [structure and anti-m. leprae activity relationships of new quinolones]. | due to the emergence of drug resistant m. leprae, there is a need to look for new drugs for the treatment of leprosy. we evaluated the effectiveness of new quinolones in vitro as well as in vivo. the in vitro and in vivo results suggested that a cyclopropyl group at the 1-position, cooh at the 3-position, oh at the 4-position, nh2 or oh-substitutions at the 5-position, f at the 6-position, 5- and 6-membered rings at the 7-position, halogen (f or cl) or och3 at the 8-position of the quinolone cor ... | 2009 | 19227145 |
| [detection of rna expression on whole genome analysis of mycobacterium leprae by tiling array]. | completion of mycobacterium leprae genome sequence revealed that there are many pseudogenes and non-coding regions, but rather small numbers of protein-coding genes. although it was thought that pseudogenes and non-coding regions were silent and junk, our previous studies indicated that rna expression was detected from these regions. to elucidate comprehensive rna expression pattern on m. leprae whole genome, tiling array was designed and total rna of m. leprae thai-53 strain was analyzed. as a ... | 2009 | 19227149 |
| [comprehensive analysis of rna expression of mycobacterium leprae and clinical and biological significance]. | completion of mycobacterium leprae genome sequence revealed that there are many pseudogenes and non-coding regions, but rather small numbers of protein-coding genes. this result indicates that m. leprae is a very unique organism, and this future is important to understand the biological nature and/or pathogenicity of m. leprae, which remain unclear. we attempted to find the biological nature of m. leprae by detecting the gene and pseudogene regions transcribed at high level. we detected the geno ... | 2009 | 19227151 |
| recent advances in the molecular epidemiology of leprosy. | recent advances in the molecular epidemiology of leprosy through genotyping of variable number tandem repeats (vntrs) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) are described. vntrs with a broad range of diversity are useful genotyping tools for analyzing transmission in community areas, and snps and vntrs with a small degree of variation are favorable for investigating the global transmission of leprosy. we expect that the transmission of leprosy can be fully analyzed by the application of thes ... | 2009 | 19227152 |
| [report of the ninth meeting of the who technical advisory group of leprosy control]. | the ninth meeting of the who technical advisory group (tag) on leprosy control was held in cairo, egypt on 6th and 7th march 2008. the meeting was chaired by professor w.c.s. smith and attended by national leprosy programme managers from brazil, the democratic republic of congo, cambodia, egypt, iran, india, nigeria and thailand. in addition, several experts and members of the technical commission of the international federation ofanti-leprosy associations (ilep) also attended the meeting. | 2009 | 19227153 |
| lymphotoxin-alpha and tnf have essential but independent roles in the evolution of the granulomatous response in experimental leprosy. | recent studies identified an association between genetic variants in the lymphotoxin-alpha (ltalpha) gene and leprosy. to study the influence of ltalpha on the control of experimental leprosy, both low- and high-dose mycobacterium leprae foot pad (fp) infections were evaluated in ltalpha-deficient chimeric (cltalpha(-/-)) and control chimeric (cb6) mice. cellular responses to low-dose infection in cltalpha(-/-) mice were dramatically different, with reduced accumulation of cd4(+) and cd8(+) lymp ... | 2009 | 19246648 |
| peroxynitrite detoxification by ferryl mycobacterium leprae truncated hemoglobin o. | during infection, mycobacterium leprae is faced with the host macrophagic environment limiting the growth of the bacilli. however, (pseudo-)enzymatic detoxification systems, including truncated hemoglobin o (ml-trhbo), could allow this mycobacterium to persist in vivo. here, kinetics of peroxynitrite (onooh/onoo(-)) detoxification by ferryl ml-trhbo (ml-trhbo-fe(iv)=o), obtained by treatment with h(2)o(2), is reported. values of the second-order rate constant for peroxynitrite detoxification by ... | 2009 | 19250633 |
| functional insights by comparison of modeled structures of 18kda small heat shock protein and its mutant in mycobacterium leprae. | in this work we are proposing homology modeled structures of mycobacterium leprae 18kda heat shock protein and its mutant. the more closely related structure of the small heat shock protein (shsp) belonging to the eukaryotic species from wheat shsp16.9 and 16.3kda acr1 protein from mycobacterium tuberculosis were used as template structures. each model contains an n-terminal domain, alpha-crystalline domain and a c-terminal tail. the models showed that a single point mutation from serine to prol ... | 2008 | 19255639 |
| development of leprosy in a patient with ankylosing spondylitis during the infliximab treatment: reactivation of a latent infection? | the use of tumor necrosis factor alpha as a treatment for chronic inflammatory conditions has been shown to be associated with an increased risk of developing infections, especially mycobacterium tuberculosis, atypical mycobacteria, and other microorganisms. we report the case of a 58-year-old man with ankylosing spondylitis, receiving infliximab treatment, who presented with multiple plaques on the face, chest, and extremities, a thickened, tender ulnar nerve, and severe neuritis of the feet. t ... | 2009 | 19259757 |
| leprosy type 1 (reversal) reactions and their management. | the type of leprosy that affects an individual depends on the immune response mounted against the organism. this leads to a spectrum of disease which may be complicated by immunological phenomena called reactions. antimicrobial chemotherapy is effective in treating the mycobacterium leprae infection but up to 30% of individuals with borderline disease experience type 1 reactions (t1rs). t1rs are immunologically mediated episodes, localised in skin and nerves, which are a major cause of nerve fun ... | 2008 | 19274984 |
| the role of free-living pathogenic amoeba in the transmission of leprosy: a proof of principle. | leprosy transmission remains poorly understood, though, prolonged skin contact and/or infection via nasal mucosa, are considered likely. problematic in any transmission hypothesis is the fastidious nature of mycobacterium leprae outside its host cell and the requirement for temporary survival in the environment, soil or water. experiments were carried out to test the hypothesis that free living pathogenic amoeba might serve as host cells for m. leprae, protecting them from adverse environmental ... | 2008 | 19274986 |
| whole-genome tiling array analysis of mycobacterium leprae rna reveals high expression of pseudogenes and noncoding regions. | whole-genome sequence analysis of mycobacterium leprae has revealed a limited number of protein-coding genes, with half of the genome composed of pseudogenes and noncoding regions. we previously showed that some m. leprae pseudogenes are transcribed at high levels and that their expression levels change following infection. in order to clarify the rna expression profile of the m. leprae genome, a tiling array in which overlapping 60-mer probes cover the entire 3.3-mbp genome was designed. the ar ... | 2009 | 19286800 |
| detection of tuberculosis in hiv-infected children using an enzyme-linked immunospot assay. | to evaluate an enzyme-linked immunospot assay (elispot) for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (tb) in hiv-infected children with suspected tb and to compare the performance of elispot with the tuberculin skin test (tst). | 2009 | 19287300 |
| relapse in leprosy. | leprosy is unique in terms of the nature of the causative organism (mycobacterium leprae), the chronicity of the disease, its prolonged treatment and the definitions of "cure" and "relapse." the principal mode of assessing the efficacy of therapeutic regimens in leprosy is the "relapse rate." there are wide variations in estimates of relapse rates after the world health organization (who) multidrug therapy in different regions. the important predisposing factors for relapse include the presence ... | 2009 | 19293498 |
| increased chitotriosidase activity in serum of leprosy patients: association with bacillary leprosy. | human phagocyte-specific chitotriosidase is associated with several diseases involving macrophage activation. since macrophage activation plays an important role in the control of mycobacterium leprae infection, we studied the association of chitotriosidase with leprosy both in serum and in situ in lesional skin biopsies from patients. serum samples from 78 indonesian leprosy patients (39 non-reactional and 39 reactional leprosy patients) and 36 healthy controls (hc) from the same endemic region ... | 2009 | 19307157 |
| the effect of iron supplementation in the diet of dasypus novemcinctus (linnaeus, 1758) armadillos in captivity. | armadillos of the species dasypus novemcinctus have been used as an experimental model of leprosy. besides non-human primates, they are the only species naturally infected with mycobacterium leprae and when experimentally inoculated, reproduce the lepromatous form of the disease producing large quantities of bacilli. this species has been maintained in captivity by numerous researchers and specific housing and feeding requirements have been developed to guarantee their survival during long exper ... | 2009 | 19347153 |
| report of 2 indigenous cases of leprosy from a european country: use of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of hsp65 gene for identification of mycobacterium leprae directly from a clinical sample. | in this article, we report on 2 indigenous cases of leprosy detected in a european country. we also report on the use of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of hsp65 gene for rapid identification of mycobacterium leprae directly from the clinical sample. | 2009 | 19376672 |
| evaluation of polymerase chain reaction-based detection of mycobacterium leprae for the diagnosis of leprosy. | because mycobacterium leprae cannot be cultivated in vitro, laboratory diagnosis of leprosy is generally made by microscopic and histopathological examination. the objective of the present study was to evaluate the sensitivity and utility of polymerase chain reaction (pcr) to detect m. leprae in comparison with other conventional methods for diagnosis such as split skin smears, histopathology and serodiagnosis. pcr amplification of the m. leprae-specific 16s ribosomal rna was compared to other m ... | 2009 | 19382997 |
| histoid leprosy: histopathological connotations' relevance in contemporary context. | a reappraisal of histoid leprosy in the contemporary postglobal leprosy elimination era, a fallout of the world health organization leprosy elimination program, is succinctly outlined. the cardinal clinical expression, differential clinical diagnosis, the cytodiagnosis, and diagnostic salient histopathological features are highlighted. | 2009 | 19384068 |
| concomitant lucio phenomenon and erythema nodosum in a leprosy patient: clues for their distinct pathogeneses. | lepromatous leprosy patients may develop necrotic lesions, usually in the context of lucio phenomenon (lp) or severe erythema nodosum (en). the clinical and histopathological characteristics of the necrotic manifestations of both entities may eventually be confounded. we describe a patient with lepromatous leprosy who developed, since the 4th month of her first pregnancy, recurrent necrotic lesions in lower limbs, which, at the postpartum, worsened and led to partial destruction of ears and nose ... | 2009 | 19384072 |
| hansen's disease with hiv: a case of immune reconstitution disease. | immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (iris) is an acute symptomatic expression of a latent infection during the recovery of the immune system usually as a response to antiretroviral therapy (art). opportunistic infections can trigger iris. hansen's disease is an infection caused by mycobacterium leprae (m. leprae). there have been a limited number of case reports reporting the presentation of the co-infection of hiv and m. leprae. we report an unique case of iris in a patient co-infected ... | 2009 | 19385373 |
| rapid variable-number tandem-repeat genotyping for mycobacterium leprae clinical specimens. | mycobacterium leprae is the noncultivable pathogen of leprosy. since the genome sequence of an isolate of m. leprae has become available, multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat (vntr) analysis (mlva) has been explored as a tool for strain typing and identification of chains of transmission of leprosy. in order to discover vntrs and develop methods transferable to clinical samples, mlva was applied to a global collection of m. leprae isolates derived from leprosy patients and propagated in ... | 2009 | 19386839 |
| contribution of nasal biopsy to leprosy diagnosis. | the nasal mucosa plays the main role as the entry and the exit of leprosy bacilli and the nasal involvement may precede the skin lesions by several years. nasal biopsy has been used in research but its clinical application has not been described. we evaluated the contribution of the nasal biopsy for the diagnosis of leprosy and its correlation to skin biopsy and skin smear in untreated patients. | 2009 | 19401045 |
| [a male from brazil presenting skin lesions and fever]. | | 2009 | 19419800 |
| 17th international leprosy congress, hyderabad. reports of pre-congress workshops held on january 29th-30th, 2008. | | 2008 | 19425514 |
| quantitative real-time pcr analysis of mycobacterium leprae dna and mrna in human biopsy material from leprosy and reactional cases. | mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, is uncultivable in defined media. development of new diagnostic tools which do not depend on growth of bacteria is needed for the early detection of m. leprae and for monitoring the effectiveness of chemotherapy. we used a real-time pcr-based assay to quantify the copy number of bacterial dna and hsp18 mrna from 47 leprosy patients using paraffin-embedded biopsy samples. the assay used was specific, sensitive and reproducible. the applicabili ... | 2009 | 19429751 |
| polymorphisms in toll-like receptor 4 (tlr4) are associated with protection against leprosy. | accumulating evidence suggests that polymorphisms in toll-like receptors (tlrs) influence the pathogenesis of mycobacterial infections, including leprosy, a disease whose manifestations depend on host immune responses. polymorphisms in tlr2 are associated with an increased risk of reversal reaction, but not susceptibility to leprosy itself. we examined whether polymorphisms in tlr4 are associated with susceptibility to leprosy in a cohort of 441 ethiopian leprosy patients and 197 healthy control ... | 2009 | 19430824 |
| tryptophan aspartate-containing coat protein (coro1a) suppresses toll-like receptor signalling in mycobacterium leprae infection. | mycobacterium leprae is an intracellular pathogen that survives within the phagosome of host macrophages. several host factors are involved in producing tolerance, while others are responsible for killing the mycobacterium. tryptophan aspartate-containing coat protein (taco; also known as coro1a or coronin-1) inhibits the phagosome maturation that allows intracellular parasitization. in addition, the toll-like receptor (tlr) activates the innate immune response. both coro1a and tlr-2 co-localize ... | 2009 | 19438603 |
| molecular determination of mycobacterium leprae viability by use of real-time pcr. | mycobacterium leprae, the etiological agent of leprosy, is noncultivable on axenic media. therefore, the viability of m. leprae for clinical or experimental applications is often unknown. to provide new tools for m. leprae viability determination, two quantitative reverse transcriptase pcr (rt-pcr) assays were developed and characterized. m. leprae soda mrna and 16s rrna were used as rna targets, and m. leprae repetitive element (rlep) dna was used to determine relative bacterial numbers in the ... | 2009 | 19439537 |
| leprosy. | the world health organization field leprosy classification is based on the number of skin lesions: single-lesion leprosy (1 lesion), paucibacillary leprosy (2-5 skin lesions), and multibacillary leprosy (more than 5 skin lesions). worldwide, about 720,000 new cases of leprosy are reported each year, and about 2 million people have leprosy-related disabilities. methods and outcomes: we conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical questions: what are the effects of inte ... | 2007 | 19454067 |
| snp 668c (-44) alters a nf-kappab1 putative binding site in non-coding strand of human beta-defensin 1 (defb1) and is associated with lepromatous leprosy. | leprosy is an infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae. the peptide human beta-defensin 1 is an antimicrobial effector of innate epithelial immunity. a study was done on the association of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) in the beta-defensin 1 gene (defb1) - 668 c/g (-44 c/g or rs1800972; in 5' utr), 692 a/g (-20 a/g or rs11362; in 5' utr) and a1836g (rs1800971; in 3' utr) - with leprosy susceptibility per se and clinical leprosy variants. the snps were genotyped by real-ti ... | 2009 | 19460328 |
| ancient skeletal evidence for leprosy in india (2000 b.c.). | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae that affects almost 250,000 people worldwide. the timing of first infection, geographic origin, and pattern of transmission of the disease are still under investigation. comparative genomics research has suggested m. leprae evolved either in east africa or south asia during the late pleistocene before spreading to europe and the rest of the world. the earliest widely accepted evidence for leprosy is in asian texts dated to 60 ... | 2009 | 19479078 |
| lipids of pathogenic mycobacteria: contributions to virulence and host immune suppression. | mycobacteria are characterized by a complex cell wall, the lipid nature of which confers to the bacilli resistance to drying, acid or alkaline conditions, and to chemical disinfectants and therapeutic agents. pathogenic species, such as mycobacterium tuberculosis, m. leprae and m. ulcerans, have evolved various strategies to establish residence in their hosts and provoke long-term infections. there is mounting evidence that the unique lipids composing their envelopes, strategically located at th ... | 2009 | 19486312 |
| nasal reconstruction of the leprosy nose using costal cartilage. | leprosy is a chronic granulomatous infection of the skin and peripheral nerves that often leads to gross deformation of the nasal skeleton and subsequent formation of a saddle-nose deformity. reconstruction of the nose following mycobacterium leprae infection has challenged surgeons for centuries. as a result, a number of different techniques have been attempted with varying outcomes. this article describes the case and surgical treatment of a 37-year old female who presented with a subtotal nas ... | 2009 | 19486749 |
| mycobacterial esat-6 and katg are recognized by sarcoidosis cd4+ t cells when presented by the american sarcoidosis susceptibility allele, drb1*1101. | genetic associations of american sarcoidosis susceptibility implicate mhc class ii allele, drb1*1101. we previously reported immune recognition of mycobacterium peptides from peripheral cells of 26 sarcoidosis subjects, 24 ppd- healthy volunteers, and eight with latent tuberculosis infection. | 2010 | 19536643 |
| detection of rna expression from pseudogenes and non-coding genomic regions of mycobacterium leprae. | we have previously reported that some pseudogenes are expressed in mycobacterium leprae (m. leprae), the causative agent of leprosy, and that their expression levels alter upon infection of macrophages. we attempted to further examine the expression of pseudogene and non-coding genomic region in m. leprae, in this study. 19 pseudogenes, 17 non-coding genomic regions, and 21 coding genes expression in m. leprae maintained in the footpads of the hypertensive nude rat (shr/ncrj-rnu) were examined b ... | 2009 | 19555754 |
| drug resistance in leprosy: reports from selected endemic countries. | | 2009 | 19557943 |
| validating divergent orf annotation of the mycobacterium leprae genome through a full translation data set and peptide identification by tandem mass spectrometry. | mycobacterium leprae has undergone extensive degenerative evolution, with a large number of pseudogenes. it is also the organism with the greatest divergence between gene annotations from independent institutes. therefore, m. leprae is a good model to verify the currently predicted coding sequence regions between different annotations, to identify new ones and to investigate the expression of pseudogenes. we submitted a total extract of the bacteria isolated from armadillo to gel-lc-ms/ms using ... | 2009 | 19562797 |
| health assessment of free-ranging three-banded (tolypeutes matacus) and nine-banded (dasypus novemcinctus) armadillos in the gran chaco, bolivia. | the gran chaco, bolivia, has a total of seven species of armadillos with the three-banded (tolypeutes matacus) and nine-banded (dasypus novemcinctus) the most commonly hunted by the local isoseño-guarani people. armadillos are known carriers of zoonotic pathogens, including mycobacterium leprae, toxoplasma gondii, and trypanosoma cruzi; thus human handling and consumption of these species may have a significant public health impact. a health assessment that included physical examinations, hemato ... | 2009 | 19569470 |
| population-based molecular epidemiology of leprosy in cebu, philippines. | to address the persisting problem of leprosy in cebu, philippines, we compiled a database of more than 200 patients who attend an established referral skin clinic. we described the patient characteristics in conventional demographic parameters and also applied multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat (vntr) analysis (mlva) and single nucleotide polymorphism (snp) typing for mycobacterium leprae in biopsied skin lesion samples. these combined approaches revealed that transmission is ongoing, ... | 2009 | 19571027 |