Premium
In Vitro Stimulation of Lymphocytes in Leprosy Patients, Healthy Contacts of Leprosy Patients, and Subjects Not Exposed to Leprosy
Author(s) -
CLOSS O.,
REITAN L. J.,
NEGASSl K.,
HARBOE M.,
BELEHU A.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1982.tb00704.x
Subject(s) - leprosy , medicine , stimulation , immunology , in vitro , lepromatous leprosy , biology , biochemistry
In vitro lymphocyte stimulation was performed on peripheral blood lymphocytes from 48 leprosy patients, 15 healthy contacts of leprosy patients, and 16 normal controls who lived in a leprosy‐free area and who had not been exposed to leprosy. Tuberculin PPD and an antigen fraction, MLW 1, prepared from M. leprae , were used as stimulants. The MLW 1 preparation contained one antibody‐precipitable component when tested in crossed immuno‐electrophoresis against a polyvalent anti‐ M. leprae immunoglobulin preparation, namely the ML 7 antigen. MLW 1 induced strong lymphocyte responses in patients with tuberculoid leprosy and healthy contacts of leprosy patients, but only weak or no responses in lepromatous leprosy patients and non‐exposed controls. A marked depression of the response to tuberculin PPD was observed in lepromatous leprosy patients. The specificity of the MLW 1 antigen is discussed, and a new estimator of specific lymphocyte stimulation, the δcpm′, is introduced.