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Preliminary immunological studies in search of correlates of protective immunity carried out on some Iranian leprosy patients and their families

1980; British Leprosy Relief Association; Volume: 51; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5935/0305-7518.19800031

2162-8807

J.L. Stanford, G.A.W. Rook, Samuel Nm, F. MADLENER, A. A. KHAMENEI, Taher Nemati, Farrokh Modabber, R. J. W. Rees,

Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology

Multiple skin-testing, lymphocyte transformation tests and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay of antibodies to mycobacterial antigens have been carried out on patients and their healthy children living in Baba Baghi Leprosy Sanatorium in Iran.The data reported shows a remarkable correlation between responses to My cobacteriu m Zepra e and M. vaccae in all 3 test systems.The percentage of positive responders to skin tests with Leprosin A amongst the children is higher than has previously been found and BeG has been shown to enhance the capacity of the individual to recognize M. Zeprae in this way.Finally, the majority of a small number of children considered to be protected from leprosy have been shown to possess lymphocytes that transform in the presence of M. Zeprae and M. vaccae antigens, but little antib ody to M. Zeprae by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Of the 3 types of test assessed here only skin-testing appears to be of any value as a measure of protection, but whether even this will prove useful at the individual level is far from certain.