02538nas a2200457   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653002600055653002400081653002300105653003000128653003800158653001600196653001100212653003000223653002100253653001300274653002300287653001200310653002400322653002500346653002500371653002500396653002600421653002400447653002500471100001100496700001300507700001500520700001600535700001600551700001400567700001600581700001300597245009900610856004100709300001000750490000700760520129900767022001402066       1994                            d  c1994 Dec10aAntibodies, Bacterial10aAntigens, Bacterial10aBacterial Vaccines10aCombined Modality Therapy10aEnzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay10aGlycolipids10aHumans10aHypersensitivity, Delayed10aImmunoglobulin M10aLepromin10aLeprostatic Agents10aleprosy10aLeprosy, Borderline10aLeprosy, lepromatous10aLeprosy, Tuberculoid10aLongitudinal studies10aLymphocyte Activation10aMycobacterium bovis10aMycobacterium leprae1 aRada E1 aUlrich M1 aAranzazu N1 aSantaella C1 aGallinoto M1 aCenteno M1 aRodriguez V1 aConvit J00aA longitudinal study of immunologic reactivity in leprosy patients treated with immunotherapy.  uhttp://ila.ilsl.br/pdfs/v62n4a08.pdf  a552-80 v623 a<p>More than 150 leprosy patients treated with multidrug therapy (MDT) plus immunotherapy (IMT) with a mixture of heat-killed Mycobacterium leprae plus live BCG were studied in relation to humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. Many previously had received prolonged sulfone monotherapy. Patients received 2 to 10 doses of IMT in a period of 1 to 3 years, depending upon their clinical form of leprosy. The patients were followed up for 5 to 10 years with repeated determinations of antibody levels to phenolic glycolipid-I; lymphoproliferative (LTT) responses to soluble extract of M. leprae, to whole bacilli and to BCG, skin-test responses and bacterial indexes (BIs). After MDT plus IMT there was a statistically significant decrease of antibody levels in the multibacillary (MB) group. The BI decreased proportionally to the ELISA results. LTT increased to M. leprae antigens, especially to soluble extract, in a high percentage of these patients (34% of LL patients positive). Lepromin positivity in MB patients increased from 5% initially positive to 75% at the cut-off during this follow up. These results show substantial early and persistent cell-mediated reactivity to M. leprae in many MB patients treated with MDT-IMT, confirming and expanding previously published data.</p>
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