@article{17980,
  keywords = {Cytokines, Disease Susceptibility, Humans, Interferon-gamma, Interleukin-2, leprosy, T-Lymphocytes},
  author = {Modlin R L},
  title = {Th1-Th2 paradigm: insights from leprosy.},
  abstract = {<p>The mechanism by which T cells and cytokines regulate immune processes in skin can be investigated by studying patients with leprosy. The disease, caused by the obligate intracellular bacterium Mycobacterium leprae, forms a spectrum. At one pole, patients with tuberculoid leprosy are able to restrict the growth of the pathogen and their skin lesions are characterized by a predominance of CD4+ T cells and type 1 cytokines including interleukin 2 and interferon gamma. At the opposite pole, patients with lepromatous leprosy are unable to contain the infection and their skin lesions are characterized by a predominance of CD8+ T cells and type 2 cytokines including interleukins 4 and 10. A key determinant of the T-cell cytokine response may be interleukin 12, which selectively favors expansion of CD4+ T cells producing interferon gamma. By understanding the factors that regulate T-cell and cytokine responses in leprosy, it should be possible to devise specific immunologic interventions in diseases of skin.</p>},
  year = {1994},
  journal = {The Journal of investigative dermatology},
  volume = {102},
  pages = {828-32},
  month = {1994 Jun},
  issn = {0022-202X},
  url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022202X94946140},
  doi = {10.1111/1523-1747.ep12381958},
  language = {eng},
}