title: IgA antibodies against phenolic glycolipid I from Mycobacterium leprae in serum of leprosy patients and contacts: subclass distribution and relation to disease activity.
abstract: The anti-PGL-I IgA response against phenolic glycolipid I (PGL-I) a specific surface antigen of Mycobacterium leprae, was demonstrated to be essentially of the IgA1 subclass in sera from leprosy patients and contacts. Anti-PGL-I IgA1 mean levels were found to increase significantly from the tuberculoid toward the lepromatous pole of the leprosy disease spectrum, thus resembling the predominating anti-PGL-I IgM response. Furthermore, anti-PGL-I IgA1 values were shown to increase significantly with increasing bacillary load, measured as bacillary index (BI) from skin biopsies. However, a number of BI negative leprosy patients recorded elevated anti-PGL-I IgA1 levels possibly reflecting a persistence of disease activity. Three of 28 household or family contacts of leprosy patients were detected seropositive for anti-PGL-I IgA1. Thus, our results suggest that anti-PGL-I IgA1 may be considered as an additional parameter for the early detection of infection with M. leprae.
authors.affiliation: Neurological Institute, University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schwerer
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Chujor
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bernheimer
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Radl
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Haaijman
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Meeker
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sersen
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Levis
mesh_terms: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006017:Glycolipids / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000276:immunology*; D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes; D007918:Leprosy / Q000276:immunology* / Q000635:transmission; D008081:Liposomes; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D006017:Glycolipids; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes; D008081:Liposomes; C045169:phenolic glycolipid I, Mycobacterium leprae