02045nas a2200313   4500000000100000008004100001260001800042653002400060653001600084653001100100653002200111653001200133653001400145653002600159653001600185653001800201653002500219653002400244100001200268700001600280700001100296700001300307700001400320245007800334300001000412490000800422520128700430022001401717       1984                            d  c1984 Mar 8-1410aAntigens, Bacterial10aGlycolipids10aHumans10aImmunosuppression10aleprosy10aLiposomes10aLymphocyte Activation10aLymphocytes10aMycobacterium10aMycobacterium leprae10aSpecies Specificity1 aMehra V1 aBrennan P J1 aRada E1 aConvit J1 aBloom B R00aLymphocyte suppression in leprosy induced by unique M. leprae glycolipid.  a194-60 v3083 a<p>Leprosy remains a significant medical and social problem in many developing countries. The varied forms of the disease form a spectrum. At one pole, tuberculoid leprosy, patients develop high levels of cell-mediated immunity which results in the killing and clearing of bacilli in the tissues. At the lepromatous pole, patients exhibit a selective immunological unresponsiveness to antigens of Mycobacterium leprae so that the organisms inexorably multiply in the skin. We have suggested that in lepromatous leprosy one or a small number of unique antigenic determinants present on M. leprae might induce specific suppressor cells that inhibit the reactivity of helper T-cell clones capable of recognizing other specific or cross reactive determinants. Although unique epitopes have been identified by monoclonal antibodies on a small number of M. leprae proteins, the only unique species of antigen present in M. leprae, and not on any other species of mycobacteria so far examined, is a phenolic glycolipid (gly-I). We show here that this unique antigen of M. leprae is capable of inducing suppression of mitogenic responses of lepromatous patients' lymphocytes in vitro and provide evidence that the suppressor T cells recognize the specific terminal trisaccharide moiety.</p>  a0028-0836