02081nas a2200337   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653002400055653001800079653002000097653004100117653003100158653001100189653001800200653001200218653002600230653001400256653002500270653001800295653001400313100001100327700001400338700001600352700001600368700001500384245010400399300001100503490000700514520120800521022001401729       1984                            d  c1984 Dec10aAntigens, Bacterial10aCell Adhesion10aCells, Cultured10aHistocompatibility Antigens Class II10aHistocompatibility Testing10aHumans10aInterleukin-210aleprosy10aLymphocyte Activation10aMonocytes10aMycobacterium leprae10aT-Lymphocytes10aThymidine1 aNath I1 aSathish M1 aJayaraman T1 aBhutani L K1 aSharma A K00aEvidence for the presence of M. leprae reactive T lymphocytes in patients with lepromatous leprosy.  a522-300 v583 a<p>Evidence for the presence of Mycobacterium leprae reactive T cells in many lepromatous leprosy (LL) patients was obtained using in vitro antigen-induced lymphoproliferative responses. (1) Co-cultures of T enriched cells from LL patients when combined with 2 h adherent cells (AC) from HLA-D compatible tuberculoid leprosy individuals showed significant levels of 3H-thymidine incorporation in the presence of soluble and integral M. leprae antigens. (2) More interestingly, autologous T cell + AC co-cultures also showed significant improvement in antigen-induced lymphoproliferation in nine of 16 lepromatous patients. Insignificant improvement was observed in similar co-cultures of tuberculoid leprosy patients. (3) Addition of exogenous, purified human interleukin-2 (IL-2) to antigen stimulated PBMC from some lepromatous patients showed the best improvement in terms of overall 3H-thymidine incorporation, indicating that lepromatous patients possess T cells which can differentiate to an IL-2 responsive state. Significantly, the level of proliferation varied within the group. A proportion of clinically similar lepromatous patients failed to show improvement by any of the above methods.</p>  a0009-9104