title: Adenosine deaminase activity in leprosy.
abstract: Adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity was studied in serum and peripheral blood lymphocytes of leprosy patients and healthy controls. Serum ADA levels were found to be elevated in tuberculoid as well as lepromatous cases compared to control subjects. Serum ADA activity was significantly higher in tuberculoid cases than in the lepromatous group. Lymphocyte adenosine deaminase activity showed a similar trend. These results suggest that, since the overall activity of the enzyme is not deficient in leprosy, the cellular immune abberation seen in the different types of leprosy may be due to abnormal proliferation of different subsets of lymphocytes in response to M. leprae.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Biochemistry, Central JALMA Institute for Leprosy, Taj Ganj, Agra.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Suri Babu
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Kannan
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Katoch
authors.forename: V P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Bharadwaj
mesh_terms: D000243:Adenosine Deaminase / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D015440:Leprosy, Lepromatous / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology; D015441:Leprosy, Tuberculoid / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000201:enzymology*; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000243:Adenosine Deaminase