Cross-reactivity of Mycobacterium leprae and M. tuberculosis and the implications for assessment of in vitro T cell function in leprosy patients

Abstract

The cross-reactivity in vitro between Mycobacterium leprae and M. tuberculosis was studied in 41 Aboriginal Australians with leprosy, 78 uninfected contacts of leprosy patients and 38 control individuals. A vigorous T cell response to epitopes cross-reactive between these two mycobacteria was found for healthy uninfected contacts or non-contacts (controls) of leprosy patients, but not for the patients themselves. The data suggest that a vaccine based on antigen shared between M. leprae and other mycobacteria is unlikely to be useful in preventing leprosy. Further studies of responses in vitro to purified T cell-reactive antigens would be useful in designing newer vaccines for more widespread field studies of leprosy prevention.

Antibodies toMycobacterium tuberculosis-specificepitopes in lepromatous leprosy

“…Sensitizalion lo T cell cpilopes shared between M. teprae and \4. tubercutosi.s has generally been indicated by the strong correlation of proliferativc responses to the respective crude antigen extracts in healthy subjects (Rawlinson & Basten, 1989) and by the similar degree of depression in response to both extraets in lepromatous leprosy (Closs et ai. 1982).…”