02158nas a2200373   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001500055653001000070653002400080653001100104653001100115653001300126653001200139653002600151653001600177653000900193653001600202653002400218653002500242100001800267700001500285700002300300700001100323700001800334700002300352245016000375856005900535300001000594490000700604050003200611520112700643022001401770       1994                            d  c1994 Mar10aAdolescent10aAdult10aAntigens, Bacterial10aFemale10aHumans10aLepromin10aleprosy10aLymphocyte Activation10aLymphocytes10aMale10aMiddle Aged10aMycobacterium bovis10aMycobacterium leprae1 aIlangumaran S1 aRobinson P1 aShankernarayan N P1 aRamu G1 aMahadevan P R1 aMuthukkaruppan V R00aT lymphocyte reactivity of leprosy patients and healthy contacts from a leprosy-endemic population to delipidified cell components of Mycobacterium leprae.  uhttp://leprev.ilsl.br/pdfs/1994/v65n1/pdf/v65n1a03.pdf  a34-440 v65  aInfolep Library - available3 a<p>In this study, we measured in vitro proliferative responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from both leprosy patients across the clinical spectrum and also healthy contacts from a leprosy-endemic population to delipidified cell components of Mycobacterium leprae (DCC) and Dharmendra lepromin. Dharmendra lepromin was poor in inducing in vitro T cell proliferation in all the study groups, even though it elicited marked in vivo skin test reaction in tuberculoid leprosy patients and healthy contacts. In contrast, Dharmendra preparation of BCG induced marked T-cell response in tuberculoid as well as bacterial index negative lepromatous patients. DCC induced a significantly higher lymphoproliferative response than Dharmendra lepromin in all study groups. A significant positive correlation was observed between the lymphoproliferative responses to DCC and BCG. The present study, based on a large number of leprosy patients and healthy contacts, clearly demonstrates that DCC, depleted of glycolipids and lipopolysaccharides, is a good antigenic preparation for evaluating T-cell reactivity to M. leprae.</p>  a0305-7518