@article{2776,
  keywords = {Animals, Antigens, Bacterial, Bacterial Proteins, Biopsy, Densitometry, DNA, Bacterial, Drug Therapy, Combination, Electrophoresis, Agar Gel, Glycolipids, Humans, Immunoglobulin M, Leprostatic Agents, leprosy, Longitudinal studies, Mice, Mice, Nude, Mycobacterium leprae, polymerase chain reaction, Reproducibility of Results, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, RNA, Messenger},
  author = {Chae G and Kim M and Kang T and Lee S and Shin H and Kim J and Ko Y and Kim S and Kim N},
  title = {DNA-PCR and RT-PCR for the 18-kDa gene of Mycobacterium leprae to assess the efficacy of multi-drug therapy for leprosy.},
  abstract = {<p>DNA-PCR and reverse transcription (RT)-PCR for the 18-kDa protein of Mycobacterium leprae were used to examine the efficacy of multi-drug therapy (MDT) in leprosy. MDT was administered for 0-24 months. Fourteen (63.6%) of 22 patients showed positive PCR results after treatment for 12 months and the positive results decreased to 30% after 24 months of MDT. These results did not correlate with the bacterial index (BI) or the IgM antibody titre for the phenolic glycolipid (PGL)-1. One-dimensional densitometric analysis of agarose gels from PCR from the longitudinal study showed a gradual reduction of the 360-bp band after 12-24 months of MDT. RT-PCR for mRNA of the 18-kDa protein successfully tracked bacterial RNA changes in the biopsies and confirmed a decrease in the RNA of M. leprae in patients after MDT for 12 months. Thus, DNA- and RT-PCR for the 18-kDa protein of M. leprae are effective in assessing the efficacy of MDT for leprosy.</p>},
  year = {2002},
  journal = {Journal of medical microbiology},
  volume = {51},
  pages = {417-22},
  month = {2002 May},
  issn = {0022-2615},
  doi = {10.1099/0022-1317-51-5-417},
  language = {eng},
}