02072nas a2200349   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653002400055653003800079653001600117653001100133653002300144653001200167653002500179653002400204100001200228700001600240700002100256700001600277700001600293700001500309700001200324700001400336700001200350700001600362245013800378856007200516300001100588490000600599520110300605022001401708       2001                            d  c2001 Jan10aAntigens, Bacterial10aEnzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay10aGlycolipids10aHumans10aLeprostatic Agents10aleprosy10aMycobacterium leprae10aProspective Studies1 aCho S N1 aCellona R V1 aVillahermosa L G1 aFajardo T T1 aBalagon M V1 aAbalos R M1 aTan E V1 aWalsh G P1 aKim J D1 aBrennan P J00aDetection of phenolic glycolipid I of Mycobacterium leprae in sera from leprosy patients before and after start of multidrug therapy.  uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC96023/pdf/cd000138.pdf  a138-420 v83 a<p>A total of 100 untreated new leprosy patients were recruited prospectively and examined for the presence of phenolic glycolipid I (PGL-I) antigen in their serum specimens by dot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using rabbit anti-PGL-I antiserum. The presence of circulating PGL-I antigen was closely related to the bacterial indices (BI) of the patients. The PGL-I antigen was detectable in 27 (93.1%) of 29 patients with a BI of 4.0 or above and in 15 (68.2%) of 22 patients with a BI of 3.0 to 3.9. However, none of the 37 patients with a BI of less than 1.9 had detectable PGL-I antigen by the methods used in this study. The level of PGL-I in serum declined rapidly by about 90% 1 month after the start of multidrug therapy. This study showed clearly that anti-PGL-I IgM antibodies and circulating PGL-I antigen levels reflect the bacterial loads in untreated leprosy patients. The serological parameters based on the PGL-I antigen may therefore be useful in the assessment of leprosy patients at the time of diagnosis and possibly in monitoring patients following chemotherapy.</p>  a1071-412X