@article{17462,
  keywords = {Antigens, Bacterial, Base Sequence, Cytokines, DNA Primers, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor, Humans, Interferon-gamma, Interleukin-4, Interleukin-6, leprosy, Molecular Sequence Data, Mycobacterium leprae, polymerase chain reaction, RNA, Messenger, T-Lymphocyte Subsets, T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer},
  author = {Misra N and Murtaza A and Walker B and Narayan N P and Misra R S and Ramesh V and Singh S and Colston M J and Nath I},
  title = {Cytokine profile of circulating T cells of leprosy patients reflects both indiscriminate and polarized T-helper subsets: T-helper phenotype is stable and uninfluenced by related antigens of Mycobacterium leprae.},
  abstract = {<p>Cytokine profiles of circulating mononuclear cells were studied with the aim of delineating T-cell subsets in leprosy patients with active disease. Using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for cytokine mRNA and enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) for the secreted products, interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-6 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) were studied. Three antigens, native Mycobacterium leprae, a recombinant antigen LSR/A15 of M. leprae and peptide 624 spanning 58-77 amino acids of the latter, were used to induce cytokine expression and release. Half of the subjects, irrespective of the clinical type or antigen used, showed a mixed T-helper type 0 (Th0)-like cytokine pattern, with evidence of the concomitant presence of IFN-gamma and IL-4. The remainder showed a polarized pattern based on the type of leprosy. Lepromatous patients with disseminated disease had Th2-type cytokines, with IL-4 but not IFN-gamma. In contrast, tuberculoid leprosy patients with localized disease showed a Th1-like profile, with the presence of IFN-gamma but not IL-4. Of interest was the stability of the Th phenotype for M. leprae-related antigens. Both the recombinant and the peptide antigens induced the same phenotype as the natural M. leprae bacillus in all except four of 45 leprosy patients.</p>},
  year = {1995},
  journal = {Immunology},
  volume = {86},
  pages = {97-103},
  month = {1995 Sep},
  issn = {0019-2805},
  language = {eng},
}