Cytokines in leprosy, I. Serum cytokine profile in leprosy.
BACKGROUND
Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease characterized by a broad spectrum of clinical forms depending on the patient's immune response, in particular cell-mediated immune response.


METHODS
Cytokines can play a role in the cell-mediated immune response. Serum levels of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R), interleukin-10 (IL-10), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 55 untreated leprosy patients and 35 reactional leprosy patients, in addition to 20 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.


RESULTS
Leprosy patients showed significantly higher serum levels of the studied cytokines (except IL-2) compared with healthy controls. When the two poles were compared, tuberculoid leprosy (TT) patients showed significantly higher levels of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha with significant negative correlations with the bacterial index (BI), whereas lepromatous leprosy (LL) patients showed significantly higher serum levels of IL-2R, IL-10, and IL-1beta with significant positive correlations with the BI. Both type I and type II reactional patients showed significantly higher serum IFN-gamma, IL-2R, and IL-1beta, in addition to IL-10 in type II reactional patients, compared with nonreactional leprosy patients. When compared with each other, type I reactional patients showed increased levels of IFN-gamma, whereas type II reactional patients showed increased levels of IL-10.


CONCLUSIONS
In leprosy patients, both IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha are immunoprotective, whereas IL-2R, IL-10, and IL-1beta are immunosuppressive. Our results indicate that type I reaction, with increased levels of IFN-gamma, is a cell-mediated immune response, whereas type II reaction, with increased levels of IL-10, is essentially an immune complex disease.
Moubasher
A D
AD
Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Egypt.
Kamel
N A
NA
Zedan
H
H
Raheem
D D
DD
D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000097:blood; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000097:blood; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood; D007918:Leprosy / Q000097:blood*; D015439:Leprosy, Borderline / Q000097:blood; D015440:Leprosy, Lepromatous / Q000097:blood; D015441:Leprosy, Tuberculoid / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
D016207:Cytokines; D007375:Interleukin-1; D007376:Interleukin-2; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D016753:Interleukin-10; D007371:Interferon-gamma