Open AccessImmunoreactivity of nerve lipid antigens in leprosy
Author(s) -
Vemuri Nalini,
Mukherjee Rama
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of clinical laboratory analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1098-2825
pISSN - 0887-8013
DOI - 10.1002/jcla.1860050302
Subject(s) - leprosy , antigen , immunology , medicine
Neural lipid antigens, namely, galactocerebroside and ganglioside, have been implicated in demyelinating diseases. We were interested in finding the role of these antigens in leprosy neuritis. The humoral immune response to these lipid antigens was quantitated by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay in sera from 91 leprosy patients and 18 normal individuals. Our data revealed the presence of antibodies to total nerve lipids (TNL) and galactocerebroside (GalC) and a significantly low level to ganglioside (Gg) in all the categories of leprosy. No antilipid antibodies were detected in normals. Anti‐TNL and anti‐GalC antibodies were highest in tuberculoid leprosy patients. Statistically significant positive correlation was observed between anti‐TNL and anti‐GalC antibodies in lepromatous borderline, tuberculoid, and neuritic patients.