Background: Leprosy is no longer considered an imprecation, as an effective multidrug therapy regimen is available worldwide for its cure. However, its diverse clinical manifestations sometimes involve acute inflammatory reactions. These complications result in irreversible nerve damage, neuritis and anatomical deformities that emerge before, during the treatment or after the completion of treatment. Reversal reaction (Type-I) and erythema nodosum leprosum (Type-II) are the leprosy reactions generally seen in patients with lepromatous and borderline forms of leprosy. At present, there is no accurate diagnostic test available to detect these leprosy reactions.
Objectives: To identify potential biomarkers indicative of Type-I and Type-II leprosy reactions that could help in their early diagnosis.-
Methods and Results: Host-transcriptomics investigations have been utilised in this study to decipher a correlation between host-gene expression-based biomarkers and exacerbation of leprosy reactions. We present a comparative analysis of publicly available host transcriptomics datasets (from Gene Expression Omnibus) related to leprosy reactions. Individual datasets were analysed and integration of results was carried out using meta-analysis. Common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using the frequentist and Bayesian ratio association test methods. We have identified several genes - ADAMTS5, ADAMTS9, IFITM2, IFITM3, KIRREL, ANK3, CD1E, CTSF, DOCK9 and KRT73 to name a few - which can serve as potential biomarkers for Type-II reaction. Similarly, ACP5, APOC1, CCL17, S100B, SLC11A1 among others may likely serve as biomarkers for Type-I reaction.
Limitations: The number of datasets related to leprosy reactions found after the systematic search is less (n = 4) and may limit the accuracy of identified biomarker genes. This could be resolved by including more studies in the data analysis.
Conclusion: We provide a comprehensive list of gene candidates which could be prioritised further in research focusing on immune reactions in leprosy, as they are likely important in understanding its complexities and could be useful in its early diagnosis.
BT - Indian journal of dermatology, venereology and leprology C1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39152865 DA - 07/2024 DO - 10.25259/IJDVL_532_2022 J2 - Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol LA - ENG M3 - Article N2 -Background: Leprosy is no longer considered an imprecation, as an effective multidrug therapy regimen is available worldwide for its cure. However, its diverse clinical manifestations sometimes involve acute inflammatory reactions. These complications result in irreversible nerve damage, neuritis and anatomical deformities that emerge before, during the treatment or after the completion of treatment. Reversal reaction (Type-I) and erythema nodosum leprosum (Type-II) are the leprosy reactions generally seen in patients with lepromatous and borderline forms of leprosy. At present, there is no accurate diagnostic test available to detect these leprosy reactions.
Objectives: To identify potential biomarkers indicative of Type-I and Type-II leprosy reactions that could help in their early diagnosis.-
Methods and Results: Host-transcriptomics investigations have been utilised in this study to decipher a correlation between host-gene expression-based biomarkers and exacerbation of leprosy reactions. We present a comparative analysis of publicly available host transcriptomics datasets (from Gene Expression Omnibus) related to leprosy reactions. Individual datasets were analysed and integration of results was carried out using meta-analysis. Common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using the frequentist and Bayesian ratio association test methods. We have identified several genes - ADAMTS5, ADAMTS9, IFITM2, IFITM3, KIRREL, ANK3, CD1E, CTSF, DOCK9 and KRT73 to name a few - which can serve as potential biomarkers for Type-II reaction. Similarly, ACP5, APOC1, CCL17, S100B, SLC11A1 among others may likely serve as biomarkers for Type-I reaction.
Limitations: The number of datasets related to leprosy reactions found after the systematic search is less (n = 4) and may limit the accuracy of identified biomarker genes. This could be resolved by including more studies in the data analysis.
Conclusion: We provide a comprehensive list of gene candidates which could be prioritised further in research focusing on immune reactions in leprosy, as they are likely important in understanding its complexities and could be useful in its early diagnosis.
PY - 2024 SP - 1 EP - 11 T2 - Indian journal of dermatology, venereology and leprology TI - Comparative host transcriptomics as a tool to identify candidate biomarkers for immune reactions in leprosy using meta-analysis. SN - 0973-3922 ER -