The detection of structural ARN in ribosom-16sr RNA existing in living M.leprae has the value of valuating the efficacy of the treatment and make prognosis of the recurrence . NASBA is performed on 91 samples of biopsy of ear tissue of 2 groups of patients immediately after the treatment of the group I and 5 years after the treatment of the group II. In group I, the positive rate of NASBA is 1/29 and in group II is 3/62. All patients with positive NASBA are in the group of numerous bacilli (MB). In finishing the treatment, there is only 1 patient of MB group who has positive NASBA. Among 60 patients who finishes multichimiotherapy, after 5 years there are 3 patients with positive NASBA
Mycobacterium leprae ; Leprosy ; RNA

No abstract available.
Drug Resistance* ; Mycobacterium leprae* ; Mycobacterium*

Leprosy; Patients; Mycobacterium leprae; cells; Mycobacterium leprae; Antigens 18 leprosis patients treated in the Central Institute of Demato-venerlogy, 12 leprosis patients' children, 6 health workers in leprosis sanatoria enrolled medical students were enrolled in the study. ELISA technique was used to determine the process of production of specific antibody to ND-BSA in vitro. IgM antibody was detected in the culture of leprosis sample culture as well as of persons contacting with the patient and health persons. In each individual there can be IgM reaction, or only IgG and IgG together with IgM reaction to this antigene. All subjects who have IgG reaction to ND-BSA have transformed lympho response in vitro to ultracrushed M-leprae antigene and ND-BSA
Leprosy ; Patients ; Mycobacterium leprae ; cells ; Mycobacterium leprae ; Antigens

58 leprosis patients, aged 12-47 years old, treating in the South, were detected cellular immunity response to ultracrushed M. leprae and ND-BSA. Patients had positive response with ND-BSA. Cells having transformed responsed with ND-BSA are lymphocyte and in 5/12 patients there is a participation, mainly of subpopulation of T lymphocyte, there are Tgamadenta cells. When Tgamadenta was removed from cellular mixt, the absorption of H3-Thymidin uncreased dramatically in both ND-BSA nad BSA culture
Mycobacterium leprae ; Leprosy ; Diseases ; antigens

The zebrafish emerged as a new model of developmental research and infection. Recently zebrafish were used for various mycobacterial infection studies. In this study, we investigated a possibility of the zebrafish as an infection model of Mycobacterium leprae infection. We injected Mycobacterium leprae (10(5)/30microliter) to the peritoneum of zebrafish. After 4 weeks, we found two fish evident to the subsistence and multiplication of Mycobacterium leprae, among total 25 fish. This study thus demonstrates that zebrafish may become an animal model for M. leprae infection.
Leprosy* ; Models, Animal ; Mycobacterium leprae ; Peritoneum ; Zebrafish*

Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing, 492 nucleotides of pra gene was obtained from clinical swabs of the Vietnamese patients for comparative analysis with the corresponding sequences of the global strains of Mecobacterium leprae. As entry data for searching in Genbank, the Vietnamese strains of M.leprae showed very high homology level to the other global strains. In comparision to the standard TN strain, absolute homology (100%) for QH1 (designated as MLVN1) and 98-99% homology for QH2 strain (designated as MLVN2) of the Vietnamese M. leprae was observrd. There may be a number of variants among the M. leprae population in Vietnam. For final conclusion, thus, investigation must be done for many other isolates of patients and geographic origins. This is the first molecular-based identification for M. leprae in Vietnam. Our results afford establishing diagnostic and identification methodologies/techniques for M. leprae from clinical swabs from patients in Vietnam
Mycobacterium leprae ; Molecular Biology ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

Human ; Male ; Female ; Leprosy ; Mycobacterium Leprae

The nucleotide-oligomerization domain (NOD) is an important molecule involved in host defense against bacterial infection. To study the role of NODs in the host response to Mycobacterium leprae, we measured the mRNA levels of NODs and related genes in infected mouse tissues. The mRNA expression of NOD1, NOD2, caspase-1 and ASC was increased in mouse footpads. Whereas NOD2 expression in macrophages was increased at 2 and 24 h post-infection with M. leprae, there was no expression of NOD1 at these time points. An increase in caspase-1 expression was observed at 2 h and continued at 24 h. However, the expression of ASC was increased only at the early time point. The expression of caspase-1 is regulated by NOD2-dependent pathway in established HEK 293. Our results suggest NOD2, rather than NOD1, may be associated with the host response to M. leprae and that caspase-1 activation is essential for the host response.
Animals ; Bacterial Infections ; Macrophages ; Mice* ; Mycobacterium leprae* ; Mycobacterium* ; RNA, Messenger

Since Mycobacterium leprae, the causative organism of Leprosy, proliferate inside macrophages, it has been speculated that catalase encoded by the katG gene may protect acid-fast bacilli from the deleterious effects of peroxide generated from macrophage and may play a crucial role in the survival of M. leprae in vivo. The homology of E. coli katG gene is also identified from M. tuberculosis and M. leprae recently. However, the katG gene of M. leprae is thought to be a pseudogene, unlike that of M. tuberculosis, because it contains multiple deletions, implicating that isoniazid(INH), which is activated to a potent tuberculocidal agent by catalase encoded by the katG gene, is unlikely to be of therapeutic benefit to leprosy patients. We have tested 1) the role of KatG protein in activation of INH by using INH susceptible test of M. smegmatis mc(2)155 and BH1, and 2) the effect of INH on M. leprae growth by radiorespirometric assay to examine the catalase-like activity in M. leprae. It was found that the viability of M. leprae was decreased at 20 microgram/ml of INH and higher concentrations. We confirmed the role of KatG protein in activation of INH and our results suggest that a catalase-like activity other than katG is present in M. leprae.
Catalase ; Humans ; Isoniazid* ; Leprosy ; Macrophages ; Mycobacterium leprae ; Pseudogenes ; Tuberculosis

Appreciable amounts of high-quality DNA are frequently required for use in molecular diagnostic and epidemiology studies. The limited availability of DNA can be a critical obstacle to meeting research and clinical needs. And molecular methods have not been routinely applied to the obligate intracellular organism Mycobacterium leprae because of the difficulty of obtaining a genomic DNA template from clinical material. The MDA (multiple displacement amplification) reaction is increasingly the method of choice for many applications because of its extensive coverage of the genome, the generation of extremely long DNA products compared with older whole genome amplification methods and the high DNA yields, even from exceedingly low amounts of starting material. In the study, the author evaluated the usefulness of this method for the molecular studies in Hansen's disease.
Displacement (Psychology) ; DNA ; Genome ; Leprosy ; Mycobacterium leprae ; Pathology, Molecular