@article{95055,
  author = {Rêgo JL and Santana NDL and Aguiar ER and Queiroz IS and de Carvalho LP and Machado P and Castellucci LC},
  title = {Serum immune markers as triggers of reactional episodes in multibacillary patients with leprosy},
  abstract = {Introduction:<br>
The development of leprosy reactions is one of the main challenges in the management of patients with leprosy. The reactions can be divided into type 1 (RR) and type 2 (ENL), representing comorbidities that can cause nerve damage and disability. This study aimed to correlate the production of immunological markers in the serum of leprosy patients with and without reactions.
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Methods:<br>
Cytokines and chemokines were measured in serum by sandwich ELISA in a cross-section of 69 leprosy patients: 24 without evidence of reactions (NR), 23 with RR and 22 with ENL.
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Results:<br>
We identified an increase in CXCL-9 and CXCL-10 in the multibacillary forms (MB) of leprosy that might have a role in the development of reactions, since both chemokines were positively correlated with the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 in reactional patients. IL-8 was also noted as a marker for reactions and was correlated with TNF and CCL4 in this group. Even in patients without reactions there was a strong correlation between IL-8 and IL-6, which led us to think that the concomitant increase in these two markers in MB patients may signal impending reactions.
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Conclusions:<br>
All together, we suggest CXCL-9, CXCL-10, IL-8 and CCL4 as markers for leprosy reaction development, in addition to the interactions with inflammatory cytokines incriminated in MB, such as IL-6 and TNF.},
  year = {2020},
  journal = {Leprosy Review},
  volume = {91},
  pages = {393-402},
  publisher = {Lepra},
  issn = {2162-8807},
  url = {https://leprosyreview.org/admin/public/article_shell/uploads/article_files/Lepra/LEPROSY/91/4/lr2020326/lr2020326.pdf},
  doi = {10.47276/lr.91.4.393},
  language = {eng},
}