BACKGROUND: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease primarily affecting the peripheral nervous system and skin. Multibacillary leprosy is associated with nerve damage which could contribute to myelin alteration. As ceramide is a constituent of myelin sheath, the present study aimed to compare anti-ceramide antibody titre in paucibacillary and multibacillary leprosy patients with controls.
METHODOLOGY: Serum levels of anti-ceramide antibody were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) in 50 leprosy patients (25 paucibacillary and 25 multibacillary) and 25 healthy controls. Results were reported in OD units as mean +/- SD and analyzed by Chi square test (significance at p < 0.05).
RESULTS: Patients suffering from multibacillary leprosy had significantly higher anti-ceramide antibody serum levels compared to paucibacillary leprosy patients and healthy controls (p < 0.005).
CONCLUSIONS: Since nerve damage is the most debilitating effect of leprosy, the search for a serum marker for assessing nerve damage is required in countries where leprosy is still widespread. In multibacillary leprosy patients, the role of anti-ceramide antibody as a marker for nerve damage should be explored.
BT - Journal of infection in developing countries C1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20601789?dopt=Abstract DA - 2010 Jun 30 DO - 10.1136/bmj.c3651 IS - 6 J2 - J Infect Dev Ctries LA - eng N2 -BACKGROUND: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease primarily affecting the peripheral nervous system and skin. Multibacillary leprosy is associated with nerve damage which could contribute to myelin alteration. As ceramide is a constituent of myelin sheath, the present study aimed to compare anti-ceramide antibody titre in paucibacillary and multibacillary leprosy patients with controls.
METHODOLOGY: Serum levels of anti-ceramide antibody were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) in 50 leprosy patients (25 paucibacillary and 25 multibacillary) and 25 healthy controls. Results were reported in OD units as mean +/- SD and analyzed by Chi square test (significance at p < 0.05).
RESULTS: Patients suffering from multibacillary leprosy had significantly higher anti-ceramide antibody serum levels compared to paucibacillary leprosy patients and healthy controls (p < 0.005).
CONCLUSIONS: Since nerve damage is the most debilitating effect of leprosy, the search for a serum marker for assessing nerve damage is required in countries where leprosy is still widespread. In multibacillary leprosy patients, the role of anti-ceramide antibody as a marker for nerve damage should be explored.
PY - 2010 SP - 378 EP - 81 T2 - Journal of infection in developing countries TI - Anti-ceramide antibodies in leprosy: marker for nerve damage? UR - http://www.jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/20601789 VL - 4 SN - 1972-2680 ER -