01464nas a2200193   4500000000100000008004100001260001600042653002700058653002400085653002100109100001900130700002300149700002200172700002100194245007600215300001100291520095400302022001401256       2020                            d  bElsevier BV10aMicrobiology (medical)10aInfectious Diseases10aGeneral Medicine1 aSerrano-Coll H1 aSalazar-Peláez LM1 aMesa-Betancourt F1 aCardona-Castro N00aOct-6 transcriptional factor a possible biomarker for leprosy diagnosis  a1152323 aLeprosy is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae that affects the skin and nerves. The nerve damage in leprosy may be related to alterations in transcriptional factors, such as Krox-20, Oct-6, Sox-10. Thirty skin biopsies in leprosy patients and 15 non-leprosy skin biopsies were evaluated using RT-qPCR to assess Krox-20, Oct-6, and Sox-10 and these data was related with S-100 immunohistochemistry. Changes in gene expression were observed in the skin and dermal nerves of leprosy patients in Oct-6 and Sox-10. When comparing Oct-6 with S-100 IHC as diagnostic tests for leprosy, Oct-6 showed a sensitivity of 73.3%, and specificity of 100%, while S-100 IHC showed a sensitivity of 96.6% and specificity of 100%. Our data suggest Oct-6 could be an auxiliary biomarker specific to detecting changes in dermal nerves in leprosy and thus useful to health workers and pathologists with no expertise to observe nerve injuries in leprosy.  a0732-8893