02474nas a2200349   4500000000100000008004100001260001700042653002300059653001500082653001100097653002500108653002600133653003800159653003000197653001100227653001200238653002500250653005200275653001900327100001300346700001400359700001600373700001300389700001500402245009000417856007800507300001000585490000700595050003200602520147600634022001402110       2009                            d  c2009 Jul-Sep10aBacterial Proteins10aBiomarkers10aBiopsy10aCase-Control Studies10aComputational Biology10aEnzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay10aGene Expression Profiling10aHumans10aleprosy10aMycobacterium leprae10aReverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction10aRNA, Bacterial1 aSharma R1 aLavania M1 aChauhan D S1 aKatoch K1 aKatoch V M00aPotential of a metabolic gene (accA3) of M. leprae as a marker for leprosy reactions.  uhttp://www.ijl.org.in/July-Sept%202009_PDF%20Files/6_Abst%20(141-148).pdf  a141-80 v81  aInfolep Library - available3 a<p>Understanding the mechanism(s) of reactions in leprosy remains a challenging task for both clinicians and basic scientists. While there is some understanding of host processes associated with different type of lepra reactions, there is very little information about bacterial factors triggering these inflammatory processes. This study is continuation of our earlier research programme on leprosy genomics in which significant transcription of 11 genes was observed during active disease and these included accA3 gene. In present study, we have investigated the potential of this gene or its gene product as molecular and or immunological marker for studying the reactions. Using quantitative Real-Time RT-PCR significant higher expression (mean log2 ratio=3.39) of accA3 was observed in specimens from leprosy reaction cases compared with cases without reactions. in silico homology model of this protein was analyzed for hydrophilic and B-cell epitope regions. Peptides with maximum antigenecity were selected, cloned, expressed and used to study sero-reactivity across the disease spectrum by indirect ELISA. While sero-reactivity was observed in leprosy cases the antibody levels did not vary significantly between the patient/s of same clinical type with and without reaction thereby indicating the limitation of this approach for this purpose. Measurement of transcription of this gene has, thus, potential as a molecular marker for monitoring the reactions.</p>  a0254-9395