TY - JOUR KW - Antigens, Bacterial KW - Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay KW - Glycolipids KW - Humans KW - Leprostatic Agents KW - leprosy KW - Mycobacterium leprae KW - Prospective Studies AU - Cho S N AU - Cellona R V AU - Villahermosa L G AU - Fajardo T T AU - Balagon M V AU - Abalos R M AU - Tan E V AU - Walsh G P AU - Kim J D AU - Brennan P J AB -

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.

BT - Clinical and diagnostic laboratory immunology C1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11139208?dopt=Abstract DA - 2001 Jan DO - 10.1128/CDLI.8.1.138-142.2001 IS - 1 J2 - Clin. Diagn. Lab. Immunol. LA - eng N2 -

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.

PY - 2001 SP - 138 EP - 42 T2 - Clinical and diagnostic laboratory immunology TI - Detection of phenolic glycolipid I of Mycobacterium leprae in sera from leprosy patients before and after start of multidrug therapy. UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC96023/pdf/cd000138.pdf VL - 8 SN - 1071-412X ER -