Detection of phenolic glycolipid I of Mycobacterium leprae in sera from leprosy patients before and after start of multidrug therapy.
A total of 100 untreated new leprosy patients were recruited prospectively and examined for the presence of phenolic glycolipid I (PGL-I) antigen in their serum specimens by dot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using rabbit anti-PGL-I antiserum. The presence of circulating PGL-I antigen was closely related to the bacterial indices (BI) of the patients. The PGL-I antigen was detectable in 27 (93.1%) of 29 patients with a BI of 4.0 or above and in 15 (68.2%) of 22 patients with a BI of 3.0 to 3.9. However, none of the 37 patients with a BI of less than 1.9 had detectable PGL-I antigen by the methods used in this study. The level of PGL-I in serum declined rapidly by about 90% 1 month after the start of multidrug therapy. This study showed clearly that anti-PGL-I IgM antibodies and circulating PGL-I antigen levels reflect the bacterial loads in untreated leprosy patients. The serological parameters based on the PGL-I antigen may therefore be useful in the assessment of leprosy patients at the time of diagnosis and possibly in monitoring patients following chemotherapy.
Cho
S N
SN
Department of Microbiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, The Republic of Korea. raycho@yumc.yonsei.ac.kr
Cellona
R V
RV
Villahermosa
L G
LG
Fajardo
T T
TT
Balagon
M V
MV
Abalos
R M
RM
Tan
E V
EV
Walsh
G P
GP
Kim
J D
JD
Brennan
P J
PJ
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D006017:Glycolipids / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007917:Leprostatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007918:Leprosy / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D009166:Mycobacterium leprae / Q000276:immunology*; D011446:Prospective Studies
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D006017:Glycolipids; D007917:Leprostatic Agents; C045169:phenolic glycolipid I, Mycobacterium leprae