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Defining Protective Responses to Pathogens: Cytokine Profiles in Leprosy Lesions

1991; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 254; Issue: 5029 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.1925582

1095-9203

Masahiro Yamamura, Koichi Uyemura, Robert Deans, Kenneth I. Weinberg, Thomas H. Rea, Barry R. Bloom, Robert L. Modlin,

Acne and Rosacea Treatments and Effects

The immunological mechanisms required to engender resistance have been defined in few infectious diseases of man, and the role of specific cytokines is unclear. Leprosy presents clinically as a spectrum in which resistance correlates with cell-mediated immunity to the pathogen. To assess in situ cytokine patterns, messenger RNA extracted from leprosy skin biopsy specimens was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction with 14 cytokine-specific primers. In lesions of the resistant form of the disease, messenger RNAs coding for interleukin-2 and interferon-γ were most evident. In contrast, messenger RNAs for interleukin-4, interleukin-5, and interleukin-10 predominated in the multibacillary form. Thus, resistance and susceptibility were correlated with distinct patterns of cytokine production.