| stoichiometric protein complex formation and over-expression using the prokaryotic native operon structure. | in prokaryotes, operon encoded proteins often form protein-protein complexes. here, we show that the native structure of operons can be used to efficiently overexpress protein complexes. this study focuses on operons from mycobacteria and the use of mycobacterium smegmatis as an expression host. we demonstrate robust and correct stoichiometric expression of dimers to higher oligomers. the expression efficacy was found to be largely independent of the intergenic distances. the strategy was succes ... | 2010 | 20085764 |
| drug resistance in leprosy. | leprosy is caused by mycobacterium leprae. currently, leprosy control is mainly based on who-recommended multi-drug treatment; thus, emergence of drug resistance is a major concern. m. leprae isolates resistant to single and multiple drugs have been encountered. in this review, the history of chemotherapy and drug resistance in leprosy and molecular biological insights for drug resistance are described. new methodologies to test susceptibility to anti-leprosy drugs instead of the traditional mou ... | 2010 | 20093754 |
| [peripheral nervous system and grounds for the neural insult in leprosy]. | the mechanism of interaction between mycobacterium leprae and neural cells has not been elucidated so far. no satisfactory interpretation exists as to the bacterium tropism to the peripheral nervous system in particular. the present study is a review of the micro-physiology of the extracellular apparatus attached to schwann cells, as well as on the description of morphological units probably involved in the process of the binding to the bacterial wall. | 2009 | 20098852 |
| pediatric leprosy in sarawak, malaysia. | | 2009 | 20118691 |
| histopathological lesions of apparently normal skin in leprosy patients. | this study was carried out on 50 patients with different clinical types of leprosy 38 males (76 % and 12 females (24%), ages ranged from 14 -70 years with a mean age +/- sd 49.22 +/- 12.97 years. mean disease duration was 5.65 years +/- sd = 9.27 selected to study a group of leprosy patients and compare the clinical parameters with histopathological findings and bacteriologic status of the skin to evaluate the relevance of their patients. patients were subjected to full medical history taking in ... | 2009 | 20120756 |
| cloning, expression and characterisation of an htra-like serine protease produced in vivo by mycobacterium leprae. | members of the high temperature requirement a (htra) family of chaperone proteases have been shown to play a role in bacterial pathogenesis. in a recent report, we demonstrated that the gene ml0176, which codes for a predicted htra-like protease, a gene conserved in other species of mycobacteria, is transcribed by mycobacterium leprae in human leprosy lesions. in the present study, the recombinant ml0176 protein was produced and its enzymatic properties investigated. m. lepraerecombinant ml0176 ... | 2009 | 20140374 |
| chronic rash associated with numbness. hansen disease (leprosy). | | 2010 | 20148508 |
| fine-needle aspiration may replace skin biopsy for the collection of material for experimental infection of mice with mycobacterium leprae and lacazia loboi. | procedures involving the use of mycobacterium leprae and lacazia loboi, uncultivated organisms, depend on the collection of material from the lesions of patients or experimental animals. this study compared fine-needle aspiration (fna) and skin biopsy methods for obtaining bacilli and fungal cells to experimentally infect animals. | 2010 | 20149978 |
| china. leprosy's last stand--or early days of a war of attrition? | | 2010 | 20167759 |
| [report of the tenth meeting of the who technical advisory group on leprosy control]. | the tenth meeting of the who technical advisory group (tag) on leprosy control was held in new delhi, india on 23rd april 2009. the meeting was chaired by professor wcs smith and attended by tag members, several experts, who secretariat, and members of the technical bodies of international leprosy association (ila) and the international federation of anti-leprosy associations (ilep) also attended the meeting. | 2010 | 20169983 |
| facial tuberculoid leprosy: case report. | leprosy is a chronic, infectious, systemic disease caused by mycobacterium leprae and is classified as paucibacillary and multibacillary types. it is contagious and has an insidious onset. clinical presentation is characterised by hypopigmented skin lesions with reduced sensation. presence of acid-fast bacilli in tissue specimens is regarded as a gold standard for diagnosis. treatment is based on multi-drug regimens. we report a case of borderline tuberculoid leprosy in a 31-year-old woman. | 2011 | 20188445 |
| editorial: lepromatous leprosy, lipids, and lessons in immunology: what we can learn by using modern methods to study an ancient disease. | | 2010 | 20194162 |
| large infiltrated erythematous and scaly plaque on the cheek and thickened earlobe. | | 2010 | 20201669 |
| histopathological changes in the arrector pili muscle of normal appearing skin in leprosy patients. | leprosy is a chronic inflammatory disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, which affects not only the peripheral nerves and skin, but also various internal viscera through hematogenous spread, especially in lepromatous cases. histology in its own way plays a vital role, not only in classifying the established lesion, but also in confirming the clinical diagnosis. during the latent period of subclinical involvement, the apparently normal looking skin might also be undergoing some pathological chan ... | 2010 | 20207571 |
| the bacteriostatic action of benzothiazole derivatives on m. leprae. | | 1947 | 20272491 |
| action of penicillin on mycobacterium leprae muris. | | 1946 | 20289744 |
| hypophosphorylation of nf-h and nf-m subunits of neurofilaments and the associated decrease in kspxk kinase activity in the sciatic nerves of swiss white mice inoculated in the foot pad with mycobacterium leprae. | to study the phosphorylation state of neurofilament (nf) proteins and activity of kspxk kinase in the sciatic nerves of swiss white (s/w) mice inoculated in the hind foot pads with m. leprae. | 2009 | 20306637 |
| detection of serum antibodies to m. leprae major membrane protein-ii in leprosy patients from indonesia. | sero-diagnostic methods are the easiest way of diagnosing an infectious disease in developing countries. in leprosy, phenolic glycolipid-1 (pgl-i) based methods for the detection of leprosy are currently available, but the use of these methods has been hindered due to the inherent problems of sensitivity. we previously showed that antibodies to major membrane protein-ii (mmp-ii) derived from mycobacterium leprae could be used to diagnose leprosy in japan. | 2009 | 20306638 |
| detection of mycobacterium leprae dna in nine-banded armadillos (dasypus novemcinctus) from the andean region of colombia. | to use dna detection methodologies to test for m. leprae in nine-banded armadillos inhabiting forested regions located around the cities and towns where leprosy patients have been identified. | 2009 | 20306641 |
| [immune response of hansen's disease. review]. | hansen's disease presents a wide spectrum of clinical and histopathological manifestations that reflect the nature of the immunological response of the host towards diverse mycobacterium leprae components. the immunological system, composed by both innate and adaptive immunology, offers protection towards infections of various etiologies, among them bacterial. bacteria, of course, have developed multiple strategies for evading host defenses, based on either very complex or simple mechanisms, but ... | 2009 | 20306725 |
| bacillus leprae in the nasal mucous membrane. | | 1912 | 20310249 |
| ocular morbidity in leprosy patients with lagophthalmos. | lagophthalmos is a well known complication in leprosy due to the involvement of seventh cranial nerve resulting in incomplete closure of the eyelids. the real magnitude of ocular morbidity as a consequence of lagophthalmos is unknown, as several ocular complications can occur independently due to involvement of the fifth (trigeminal) nerve or due to secondary infection. therefore, a study was designed to carefully examine the eyes of 100 consecutive leprosy patients with lagophthalmos seeking tr ... | 2009 | 20329361 |
| report of the who workshop on sentinel surveillance for drug resistance in leprosy 20-22 october 2008; hanoi, vietnam. | | 2009 | 20329363 |
| report of the ial seminar on cure in leprosy 14 february 2009; konark, orissa. | | 2009 | 20329364 |
| treatment regimens for leprosy. | | 2008 | 20329379 |
| development and evaluation of real-time rt-pcr assay for quantitative estimation of viable mycobacterium leprae in clinical samples. | detection of live organisms by molecular methods has special significance in leprosy where causative organism can not be cultivated in vitro. such techniques would be especially important for monitoring the progress of the disease. while real-time rt- pcr technology will be appropriate for this purpose, there is very little experience of use of such tools in leprosy. this study describes the development of a quantitative rt-pcr targeting 16s rrna based on primers used in a semi quantitative rt-p ... | 2008 | 20329380 |
| long term follow-up results of 1 year mdt in mb leprosy patients treated with standard mdt + once a month minocycline and ofloxacin. | this study was initiated in consultation with the national leprosy eradication programme (nlep) in mid nineties to try new treatment regimens for leprosy which were more robust in terms of control of reactions, long term relapses, operationally easier to undertake and feasible in field conditions. it was also envisaged to see if the addition of newer bactericidal drugs would be beneficial. | 2008 | 20329382 |
| peripheral edema in lepromatous leprosy--could thalidomide be the culprit. | | 2008 | 20329383 |
| nonbacillary forms of mycobacterium tuberculosis and mycobacterium leprae. | | 1947 | 20344292 |
| molecular epidemiology of mycobacterium leprae as determined by structure-neighbor clustering. | it has proven challenging to investigate the molecular epidemiology of mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, due to difficulties with culturing of the organism and a lack of genetic heterogeneity between strains. recently, a cost-effective panel of variable-number tandem-repeat (vntr) markers has been developed. use of this panel allows some of those limitations to be overcome and has allowed the genotyping of 475 m. leprae strains from six different countries. in the present rep ... | 2010 | 20351204 |
| leprotic cervical spondylodiscitis. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by the mycobacterium leprae that leads to leprotic neuropathy involving the peripheral nerve and several characteristic skin lesions. skeletal involvement can occur in peripheral joints, such as the wrist and the ankle. however, there is no report of an axial leprotic lesion involving the spine or paraspinal soft tissue. the authors report the first case of a leprotic cervical lesion involving the axial skeletal system. a 48-year-old male presented ... | 2010 | 20372941 |
| lest we forget hansen's disease (leprosy): an unusual presentation with an acute onset of inflammatory polyarthritis and the rheumatology experience. | several forms of arthritis and rheumatism can sometimes complicate leprosy. however, its presentation as an acute onset arthritis is unusual. we report two adult male naïve patients who presented to our rheumatology outpatient clinic with acute onset inflammatory polyarthritis, skin rash and mild sensory neurodeficit. borderline lepromatous leprosy (in type i lepra reaction) was diagnosed. we also refer to 19 case records of hansen arthritis in the clinic database (1998-2007) from approximately ... | 2009 | 20374320 |
| leprosy uveitis in the developing world. | | 2010 | 20375865 |
| neonatal bcg immunization followed by dnahsp65 boosters: highly immunogenic but not protective against tuberculosis - a paradoxical effect of the vector? | a new tuberculosis vaccine is urgently needed. prime-boost strategies are considered very promising and the inclusion of bcg is highly desirable. in this investigation, we tested the protective efficacy of bcg delivered in the neonatal period followed by boosters in the adult phase with a dna vaccine containing the hsp65 gene from mycobacterium leprae (pvaxhsp65). immune responses were characterized by serum anti-hsp65 antibody levels and ifn-gamma and il-5 production by the spleen. amounts of t ... | 2010 | 20384857 |
| genomewide association study of leprosy. | | 2010 | 20393182 |
| genomewide association study of leprosy. | | 2010 | 20397291 |
| genomewide association study of leprosy. | | 2010 | 20397292 |
| infection of mouse macrophages with viable mycobacterium leprae does not induce apoptosis. | the role played by apoptosis in host response to mycobacterium leprae is unclear. here, we studied in vitro induction of apoptosis in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages infected with live and irradiated m. leprae, as a function of multiplicity of infection under permissive (33 degrees c) and nonpermissive (37 degrees c) temperatures. the infected macrophages were scored for apoptosis by using dapi (4',6-diamindino-2-phenylindole dihydrochloride) and annexin v staining, along with activated ca ... | 2010 | 20402595 |
| immunization with pvaxhsp65 decreases inflammation and modulates immune response in experimental encephalomyelitis. | a dna vaccine (pvaxhsp65) containing the gene of a heat-shock protein (hsp65) from mycobacterium leprae showed high immunogenicity and protective efficacy against tuberculosis in balb/c mice. a possible deleterious effect related to autoimmunity needed to be tested because hsp65 is highly homologous to the correspondent mammalian protein. in this investigation we tested the effect of a previous immunization with dnahsp65 in the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (eae), a ra ... | 2010 | 20407280 |
| enhancing sensitivity of detection of immune responses to mycobacterium leprae peptides in whole-blood assays. | although worldwide leprosy prevalence has been reduced considerably following multidrug therapy, new case detection rates remain relatively stable, suggesting that transmission of infection still continues. this calls for new efforts, among which is development of assays that can identify subclinical/early-stage mycobacterium leprae-infected subjects, a likely source of transmission. areas in which leprosy is endemic often lack sophisticated laboratories, necessitating development of field-frien ... | 2010 | 20427628 |
| search for mycobacterium leprae in wild mammals. | leprosy is still a worldwide public health problem. brazil and india show the highest prevalence rates of the disease. natural infection of armadillos dasypus novemcinctus with mycobacterium leprae has been reported in some regions of the united states. identification of bacilli is difficult, particularly due to its inability to grow in vitro. the use of molecular tools represents a fast and sensitive alternative method for diagnosis of mycobacteriosis. in the present study, the diagnostic metho ... | 2010 | 20428654 |
| seropositivity to anti-phenolic glycolipid-i in leprosy cases, contacts and no known contacts of leprosy in an endemic and a non-endemic area in northeast brazil. | the seroprevalence rates of igm anti-phenolic glycolipid-i (pgl-i) antibodies in four study groups with differing exposure to mycobacterium leprae in ceará, brazil were investigated between march 2005 and august 2006. the first three groups in a high prevalence area included 144 cases of leprosy, their 380 contacts and 317 participants with no known leprosy contact. the fourth group in a low prevalence area consisted of 87 participants with no known leprosy contact living in an area in which no ... | 2010 | 20447668 |
| a modified synthesis and serological evaluation of neoglycoproteins containing the natural disaccharide of pgl-i from mycobacterium leprae. | in order to generate substantial amounts of neoglycoconjugate needed for commercialization of diagnostic kits and high-throughput detection of leprosy, we developed a facile and high-yield synthesis of the corresponding disaccharide. herein, the non-reducing disaccharide segment of phenolic glycolipid i from mycobacterium leprae, o-(3,6-di-o-methyl-beta-d-glucopyranosyl)-(1-->4)-o-2,3-di-o-methyl-alpha-l-rhamnopyranose was synthesized by an improved procedure. the disaccharide was efficiently co ... | 2010 | 20462755 |
| some unusual type 2 reactions in leprosy. | type 2 reactions with lepromatous leprosy (ll) not occurring during multi-drug therapy (mdt) have been reported. | 2010 | 20465641 |
| presence of intestinal helminths decreases t helper type 1 responses in tuberculoid leprosy patients and may increase the risk for multi-bacillary leprosy. | resistance to intracellular pathogens such as mycobacterium leprae is dependent upon an effective t helper type 1 (th1)-type immune response. on the other hand, intestinal helminths are known to subvert the host's immune response towards to either a th2-type immune response or a regulatory t cell up-regulation, which may affect the host's ability to mount an effective response to mycobacteria. here, we report a significant association between intestinal helminth infections and lepromatous lepros ... | 2010 | 20491787 |
| hansen's disease (leprosy) complicated by secondary mycobacterial infection. | a patient with hansen's disease received corticosteroids for a type 1 leprosy reaction and subsequently developed a new cutaneous lesion at the original biopsy site from which mycobacterium fortuitum was cultured. a review of the literature found only two other cases of coinfection with atypical mycobacteria and mycobacterium leprae, although there are many reports of pulmonary tuberculosis in patients with leprosy. this case highlights the diagnostic difficulties encountered when a patient has ... | 2011 | 20494478 |
| the effect of corticosteroids usage on bacterial killing, clearance and nerve damage in leprosy; part 3--study of two comparable groups of 100 multibacillary (mb) patients each, treated with mdt + steroids vs. mdt alone, assessed at 6 months post-release from 12 months mdt. | to investigate effects of therapeutic usage of corticosteroids on m. leprae killing and clearance, on clearance of granuloma and on nerve damage in multibacillary (mb) leprosy patients. | 2010 | 20496569 |
| study of cross-reactivity of mycobacterium leprae reactive salivary iga with other environmental mycobacteria. | majority of the endemic population is exposed to mycobacterium leprae but very few develop disease. humoral mucosal immune response mediated through m. leprae reactive salivary antibodies has been suggested to be quite important in the protective immunity. as the endemic population is also exposed to many environmental mycobacteria, we tested saliva from 121 subjects for the cross-reactivity of the m. leprae reactive salivary antibodies to mycobacteria like m. smegmatis and m. phlei. saliva samp ... | 2009 | 20509334 |
| a case of advanced lepromatous leprosy with rhino-oro-laryngological involvement in the post-elimination era. | a patient presenting with symptoms and signs of congestive heart failure was incidentally found to be in advanced stage of leprosy. he had multiple lepromatous nodules over the entire body. the oral mucosa was yellowish with a matte appearance and the palate had a site ready to perforate. nasal cavity revealed a small septal perforation with overlying crusts suggesting advanced rhinitis. diagnosis of lepromatous leprosy was confirmed on histology. this case report emphasizes the existence of poc ... | 2009 | 20509337 |
| genotypic analysis of mycobacterium leprae strains from different regions of india on the basis of rpot. | mycobacterium leprae strains from indian leprosy patients were analyzed using the six base tandem repeat, gacatc, in rpot gene as genetic marker. dna was extracted from slit-skin smears and nasal swabs of new untreated as well as treated leprosy patients living in different regions of india. pcr amplification of rpot gene and sequencing of amplicons showed the presence of two genotype of m. leprae in this study, 73.4% having three copies (ancient indian type) and 26.6% contain 4 copies (consider ... | 2009 | 20509339 |
| study of rifampicin resistance and comparison of dapsone resistance of m. leprae in pre- and post-mdt era. | the aim of this study to study the drug resistance patterns of dapsone (pre- and post-mdt) and rifampicin (post-mdt era). all the 84 patients from pre-mdt period (1985-1990) and 77 patients for post-mdt period (1990-2002) reporting to a tertiary care hospital-njil & omd, agra and referred for drug susceptibility testing were included in the study. drug resistance was studied by mouse foot pad method. dapsone resistance was high during pre-mdt era i.e. 8.3% (medium) and 19.1% (high) with an overa ... | 2009 | 20509341 |
| potential of a metabolic gene (acca3) of m. leprae as a marker for leprosy reactions. | understanding the mechanism(s) of reactions in leprosy remains a challenging task for both clinicians and basic scientists. while there is some understanding of host processes associated with different type of lepra reactions, there is very little information about bacterial factors triggering these inflammatory processes. this study is continuation of our earlier research programme on leprosy genomics in which significant transcription of 11 genes was observed during active disease and these in ... | 2009 | 20509343 |
| learning from leprosy: insight into the human innate immune response. | investigation into the innate immune response in leprosy has provided insight into host defense and immunopathology in human infectious disease. a key advance has been the delineation of pattern recognition receptors that detect pathogen-associated molecular patterns of the bacterium that causes leprosy, mycobacterium leprae. from this knowledge, it has been possible to determine the cytokine responses as well as macrophage and dendritic cell differentiation programs that contribute to host defe ... | 2010 | 20510728 |
| [hansen's disease, social conditions, and deforestation in the brazilian amazon]. | to analyze the association between social and environmental indicators and the hansen's disease new case detection rate (hncdr) in the brazilian amazon. | 2010 | 20512229 |
| expression of mycobacterium leprae hsp65 in tobacco and its effectiveness as an oral treatment in adjuvant-induced arthritis. | transgenic plants are able to express molecules with antigenic properties. in recent years, this has led the pharmaceutical industry to use plants as alternative systems for the production of recombinant proteins. plant-produced recombinant proteins can have important applications in therapeutics, such as in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (ra). in this study, the mycobacterial hsp65 protein expressed in tobacco plants was found to be effective as a treatment for adjuvant-induced arthritis ... | 2011 | 20526808 |
| multifunctional cd4(+) t cells correlate with active mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. | th1 cd4(+) t cells and their derived cytokines are crucial for protection against mycobacterium tuberculosis. using multiparametric flow cytometry, we have evaluated the distribution of seven distinct functional states (ifn-γ/il-2/tnf-α triple expressors, ifn-γ/il-2, ifn-γ/tnf-α or tnf-α/il-2 double expressors or ifn-γ, il-2 or tnf-α single expressors) of cd4(+) t cells in individuals with latent m. tuberculosis infection (ltbi) and active tuberculosis (tb). we found that triple expressors, whil ... | 2010 | 20540114 |
| analysis of mycobacterium leprae gene expression using dna microarray. | mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, does not grow under in vitro condition, making molecular analysis of this bacterium difficult. for this reason, bacteriological information regarding m. leprae gene function is limited compared with other mycobacterium species. in this study, we performed dna microarray analysis to clarify the rna expression profile of the thai53 strain of m. leprae grown in footpads of hypertensive nude rats (shr/ncrj-rnu). of 1605 m. leprae genes, 315 showe ... | 2010 | 20553838 |
| a role for interleukin-5 in promoting increased immunoglobulin m at the site of disease in leprosy. | leprosy is an infectious disease in which the clinical manifestations correlate with the type of immune response mounted to the pathogen, mycobacterium leprae. to investigate which biological pathways or gene sets are over-represented in lepromatous (l-lep) versus tuberculoid (t-lep) patients that might be relevant in disease pathogenesis, we compared the gene expression profiles of l-lep versus t-lep skin lesions using knowledge-guided bioinformatic analysis, incorporating data on likely biolog ... | 2010 | 20561085 |
| nramp1/slc11a1 gene polymorphisms and host susceptibility to mycobacterium tuberculosis and m. leprae in south sulawesi, indonesia. | genetic host factor may play an important role in controlling mycobacterial infections such as tuberculosis and leprosy. natural resistance associated macrophage protein1 (nramp1, alias slc11a1) gene has been suggested to an associated gene of the host susceptibility to mycobacterium infection. to determine the association of nramp1/slc11a1 with tuberculosis and leprosy, we analyzed using polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphisms three variants (d543n, 3'utr and int4) o ... | 2010 | 20578522 |
| recent advances in leprosy and buruli ulcer (mycobacterium ulcerans infection). | after tuberculosis, leprosy (mycobacterium leprae) and buruli ulcer (m. ulcerans infection) are the second and third most common mycobacterial infections in humankind, respectively. recent advances in both diseases are summarized. | 2010 | 20581668 |
| leprosy and the adaptation of human toll-like receptor 1. | leprosy is an infectious disease caused by the obligate intracellular pathogen mycobacterium leprae and remains endemic in many parts of the world. despite several major studies on susceptibility to leprosy, few genomic loci have been replicated independently. we have conducted an association analysis of more than 1,500 individuals from different case-control and family studies, and observed consistent associations between genetic variants in both tlr1 and the hla-drb1/dqa1 regions with suscepti ... | 2010 | 20617178 |
| evaluation of 85 a-c intergenic region pcr primers for detection of mycobacterium leprae dna in urine samples. | | 2010 | 20618483 |
| correlation between elisa and ml flow assays applied to 60 brazilian patients affected by leprosy. | serological tests can be helpful in classifying leprosy patients as having either the paucibacillary or the multibacillary form. the aim of this study was to evaluate the concordance between two serological assays, i.e. ml flow and elisa, in a population of leprosy patients in brazil. the investigation involved 60 patients with newly diagnosed leprosy. together with the application of the serological assays, selected demographic, clinical and epidemiological data relating to the study population ... | 2010 | 20621218 |
| infection during infancy and long incubation period of leprosy suggested in a case of a chimpanzee used for medical research. | the length of the incubation period of leprosy following mycobacterium leprae infection has never been conclusively determined, owing to the lack of a method to demonstrate the presence of an asymptomatic infection. we report a rare case of leprosy in a chimpanzee in which a 30-year incubation period was strongly suggested by single nucleotide polymorphism (snp) analysis. | 2010 | 20631101 |
| surveillance of drug resistance in leprosy: 2009. | | 2010 | 20635520 |
| the difficulty in diagnosis and treatment of leprosy. | leprosy is still an important and debilitating disease with a broad clinical spectrum. however, this disease occurs most often endemically, and as an imported disease it can also still be recognized in the nonendemic industrialized world. | 2010 | 20636605 |
| comparison of two mice strains, a/j and c57bl/6, in caspase-1 activity and il-1beta secretion of macrophage to mycobacterium leprae infection. | a/j mice were found to have amino acid differences in naip5, one of the nod-like receptors (nlrs) involved in the cytosolic recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns and one of the adaptor proteins for caspase-1 activation. this defect was associated with a susceptibility to legionella infection, suggesting an important role for naip5 in the immune response also to other intracellular pathogens, such as mycobacterium leprae. in this study, the immune responses of macrophages from a/j ... | 2010 | 20671924 |
| clinical-pathological conference: case 3. | | 2010 | 20676829 |
| leprosy in transplant recipients: report of a case after liver transplantation and review of the literature. | leprosy still is an important public health problem in several parts of the world including brazil. unlike the diseases caused by other mycobacteria, the incidence and clinical presentation of leprosy seems little affected in immunosuppressed patients. we report the first case, to our knowledge, of a liver transplant patient who developed multi-bacillary leprosy. the patient presented with papules and infiltrated plaques with loss of sensation suggestive of leprosy 3.5 years after living-related ... | 2011 | 20678090 |
| clinic-epidemiological evaluation of ulcers in patients with leprosy sequelae and the effect of low level laser therapy on wound healing: a randomized clinical trial. | mycobacterium leprae is the only pathogenic bacteria able to infect peripheral nerves. neural impairment results in a set of sensitive, motor and autonomic disturbances, with ulcers originating primarily on the hands and feet. the study objectives were to analyze the clinic-epidemiological characteristics of patients attended at one specialized dressing service from a leprosy-endemic region of the brazilian amazon and to evaluate the effect of low level laser therapy (lllt) on wound healing of t ... | 2010 | 20698989 |
| clinico-epidemiological trends of leprosy in himachal pradesh: a five year study. | this retrospective study was done to determine the epidemiological and clinical profile of leprosy patients in a tertiary care centre, indira gandhi medical college, shimla, himachal pradesh, india. in this study, we included patients registered from january 2004 to december 2008 with the urban leprosy clinic of our tertiary care centre. data regarding demographic details, clinical features, treatment and complications was extracted from the records of the leprosy clinic. 163 patients attended t ... | 2009 | 20704072 |
| interleukin-4 regulates the expression of cd209 and subsequent uptake of mycobacterium leprae by schwann cells in human leprosy. | the ability of microbial pathogens to target specific cell types is a key aspect of the pathogenesis of infectious disease. mycobacterium leprae, by infecting schwann cells, contributes to nerve injury in patients with leprosy. here, we investigated mechanisms of host-pathogen interaction in the peripheral nerve lesions of leprosy. we found that the expression of the c-type lectin, cd209, known to be expressed on tissue macrophages and to mediate the uptake of m. leprae, was present on schwann c ... | 2010 | 20713631 |
| ifng +874 t>a single nucleotide polymorphism is associated with leprosy among brazilians. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae, a low virulence mycobacterium, and the outcome of disease is dependent on the host genetics for either susceptibility per se or severity. the ifng gene codes for interferon-γ (ifn-γ), a cytokine that plays a key role in host defense against intracellular pathogens. indeed, single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) in ifng have been evaluated in several genetic epidemiological studies, and the snp +874t>a, the +874t allele, more ... | 2010 | 20714752 |
| arthritis in leprosy. | leprosy, a chronic granulomatous infection caused by mycobacterium leprae, classically presents with cutaneous and neurological manifestations. musculoskeletal involvement though third most common is underdiagnosed and underreported. it may manifest in the form of charcot's arthropathy, acute symmetrical polyarthritis or swollen hands and feet syndrome during lepra reactions, insidious-onset chronic symmetrical polyarthritis mimicking ra or as isolated tenosynovitis or tenosynovitis associated w ... | 2010 | 20724432 |
| involvement of 9-o-acetyl gd3 ganglioside in mycobacterium leprae infection of schwann cells. | mycobacterium leprae (ml), the etiologic agent of leprosy, mainly affects the skin and peripheral nerves, leading to demyelization and loss of axonal conductance. schwann cells (scs) are the main cell population infected by ml in the nerves, and infection triggers changes in the sc phenotype from a myelinated to a nonmyelinated state. in the present study, we show that expression of 9-o-acetyl gd3, a ganglioside involved in cellular anti-apoptotic signaling and nerve regeneration, increases in s ... | 2010 | 20739294 |
| apparently successful cultivation of the bacillus leprae. | | 1891 | 20753336 |
| cultivation of the bacillus leprae. | | 1891 | 20753401 |
| severe peripheral neuropathy following haart initiation in an hiv-infected patient with leprosy. | we report a case of peripheral neuropathy following highly active antiretroviral therapy (haart) initiation in a patient coinfected with hiv and mycobacterium leprae and review the literature on leprosy-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (iris). physicians in charge of hiv-infected patients originating from countries endemic for leprosy should be aware of this risk of leprosy-associated iris when starting haart. | 2010 | 20798403 |
| htlv-1 associated myelopathy diagnosed during lepromatous leprosy reaction treatment: a case report. | leprosy and human t cell lymphotropic virus type 1 infection are prevalent in brazil. coinfection by mycobacterium leprae and htlv-1 is reviewed and a case is reported. a 59 year-old woman was followed and htlv-1 associated myelopathy was diagnosed during leprosy treatment. the clinical and neurological aspects of this unusual association were initially reviewed. immunological markers and the possible prognoses due to the association of the diseases were discussed. the unexpected association of ... | 2010 | 20802953 |
| photoclinic. lepromatous leprosy. | | 2010 | 20804316 |
| identification of attractive drug targets in neglected-disease pathogens using an in silico approach. | the increased sequencing of pathogen genomes and the subsequent availability of genome-scale functional datasets are expected to guide the experimental work necessary for target-based drug discovery. however, a major bottleneck in this has been the difficulty of capturing and integrating relevant information in an easily accessible format for identifying and prioritizing potential targets. the open-access resource tdrtargets.org facilitates drug target prioritization for major tropical disease p ... | 2010 | 20808766 |
| 'environmental' sources of mycobacterium leprae: issues and evidence. | | 2010 | 20825112 |
| a mycobacterium leprae vntr database. | | 2010 | 20825113 |
| the history of mycobacterium leprae thai-53 strain. | | 2010 | 20825118 |
| mycobacterium leprae downregulates the expression of phex in schwann cells and osteoblasts. | neuropathy and bone deformities, lifelong sequelae of leprosy that persist after treatment, result in significant impairment to patients and compromise their social rehabilitation. phosphate-regulating gene with homologies to endopeptidase on the x chromosome (phex) is a zn-metalloendopeptidase, which is abundantly expressed in osteoblasts and many other cell types, such as schwann cells, and has been implicated in phosphate metabolism and x-linked rickets. here, we demonstrate that mycobacteriu ... | 2010 | 20835608 |
| history and characteristics of isolates maintained at the leprosy research center. | the origin, history, sensitivity to anti-leprosy drugs and genotypic characteristics for 27 strains maintained at the leprosy research center in tokyo are described. strains are isolated and passaged in nude mouse footpads, and frozen bacillary suspensions with different generations are also maintained. the leprosy research center provides bacillary materials as experimental resources at researchers' request. | 2010 | 20857654 |
| [novel method for simple detection of mutations conferring drug resistance in mycobacterium leprae, based on a dna microarray, and its applicability in developing countries]. | the simple method to detect mutations conferring resistant to dapsone, rifampicin, and quinolone was exploited in mycobacterium. leprae on the basis of reverse dna hybridization with capture probe fixed to the glass slide. mutations were discriminated by a series of oligonucleotide probes corresponding to each mutation in the folp1, rpob, and gyra genes of m. leprae. the method was transferred to two laboratories in developing countries. the results obtained with the kit at those laboratories we ... | 2010 | 20857655 |
| detection of mycobacterium leprae dna from archaeological skeletal remains in japan using whole genome amplification and polymerase chain reaction. | identification of pathogen dna from archaeological human remains is a powerful tool in demonstrating that the infectious disease existed in the past. however, it is very difficult to detect trace amounts of dna remnants attached to the human skeleton, especially from those buried in a humid atmosphere with a relatively high environmental temperature such as in asia. | 2010 | 20865042 |
| sub-polar lepromatous leprosy localized to the face. | leprosy is an infectious disease characterized by a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, ranging from tuberculoid to lepromatous disease with immunologically unstable borderline forms in between. in clinical practice cases often do not conform to a classical textbook description, which may lead to misdiagnosis if not properly investigated. a 22-year-old patient presented to us with erythematous plaques localized to the face. slit skin smear for mycobacterium leprae was positive from lesiona ... | 2010 | 20875329 |
| leprosy: a disease not to be forgotten in the era of globalization. | | 2010 | 20880311 |
| circulating cd4+ cd25 high foxp3+ t cells vary in different clinical forms of leprosy. | cd4(+) cd25(high) foxp3(+) regulatory t cells (t-regs) were reported to increase in chronic infections. we aimed at studying their frequency in leprosy to investigate their role during mycobacterium leprae infection. | 2010 | 20883403 |
| low serum levels of cathelicidin ll-37 in leprosy. | the antimicrobial peptide cathelicidin ll-37 possesses antituberculous activity, its association with other mycobacterial diseases, such as leprosy, is unknown. we studied serum cathelicidin and 25oh-vitamin d3 levels in 29 leprosy patients and 19 healthy individuals from yemen. cathelicidin levels were significantly lower in both treated (n=15) and untreated leprosy patients (n=14) when compared to controls (p<0.001). within leprosy patients, levels were lower in those who very recently develop ... | 2010 | 20887706 |
| enhanced activation of t lymphocytes by urease-deficient recombinant bacillus calmette-guérin producing heat shock protein 70-major membrane protein-ii fusion protein. | to activate naive t cells convincingly using mycobacterium bovis bacillus calmette-guérin (bcg), recombinant bcg (bcg-d70m) that was deficient in urease, expressed with gene encoding the fusion of bcg-derived heat shock protein (hsp) 70 and mycobacterium leprae-derived major membrane protein (mmp)-ii, one of the immunodominant ags of m. leprae, was newly constructed. bcg-d70m was more potent in activation of both cd4(+) and cd8(+) subsets of naive t cells than recombinant bcgs including urease-d ... | 2010 | 20935209 |
| leprosy as a genetic disease. | leprosy (hansen's disease) is a human infectious disease whose etiological agent, mycobacterium leprae, was identified by g. h. a. hansen in the 19th century. despite the high efficacy of multidrug therapy (<0.1% annual relapse rate), transmission is persistent. in 2008, approximately 250,000 new cases were reported to the world health organization. clinically, leprosy presents as either the paucibacillary (1-5 lesions) or the multibacillary (>5 lesions) subtype, highly reflective of a th1 (cell ... | 2010 | 20936290 |
| [mycobacterium leprae]. | | 2010 | 20942029 |
| x-ray and molecular-dynamics studies on mycobacterium leprae single-stranded dna-binding protein and comparison with other eubacterial ssb structures. | the crystal structures of two forms of mycobacterium leprae single-stranded dna-binding protein (ssb) have been determined at 2.05 and 2.8 å resolution. comparison of these structures with the structures of other eubacterial ssbs indicates considerable variation in their quaternary association, although the dna-binding domains in all of them exhibit the same ob-fold. this variation has no linear correlation with sequence variation, but could be related to variation in protein stability. molecula ... | 2010 | 20944238 |
| modulation of lipid droplets by mycobacterium leprae in schwann cells: a putative mechanism for host lipid acquisition and bacterial survival in phagosomes. | the predilection of mycobacterium leprae (ml) for schwann cells (scs) leads to peripheral neuropathy, a major concern in leprosy. highly infected scs in lepromatous leprosy nerves show a foamy, lipid-laden appearance; but the origin and nature of these lipids, as well as their role in leprosy, have remained unclear. the data presented show that ml has a pronounced effect on host-cell lipid homeostasis through regulation of lipid droplet (lipid bodies, ld) biogenesis and intracellular distributio ... | 2010 | 20955239 |
| intranasal vaccination with messenger rna as a new approach in gene therapy: use against tuberculosis. | mrnas are highly versatile, non-toxic molecules that are easy to produce and store, which can allow transient protein expression in all cell types. the safety aspects of mrna-based treatments in gene therapy make this molecule one of the most promising active components of therapeutic or prophylactic methods. the use of mrna as strategy for the stimulation of the immune system has been used mainly in current strategies for the cancer treatment but until now no one tested this molecule as vaccine ... | 2010 | 20961459 |
| nasal mucosa study of leprosy contacts with positive serology for the phenolic glycolipid 1 antigen. | leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by mycobacterium leprae. the disease more frequently affects the nasal mucosa and can occur independently of its clinical form or even before lesions on the skin or on other parts of the body. it is necessary to employ epidemiological surveillance of household contacts with new leprosy cases for early disease diagnosis. | 2010 | 20963340 |
| analysis of apoptosis and bcl-2 expression in polar forms of leprosy. | apoptosis eliminates pathogen-infected cells. its modulation can influence the course of infections, permitting the survival of intracellular pathogens. in leprosy, which presents several clinical manifestations related to bacillary burden and host immune status, the mechanisms responsible for the persistence of the bacillus are unknown. few studies have focused on apoptosis over the disease spectrum and as a defense mechanism against mycobacterium leprae. we evaluated apoptosis using terminal t ... | 2010 | 20964723 |