• 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 34  (2) , 164-169
Abstract
The lymphocyte transformation test was applied to compared in vitro lymphocyte responses of tuberculoid (high resistant) and lepromatous (low resistant) leprosy patients to purified M. leprae derived from experimentally infected armadillos and crude M. leprae derived from man, and to BCG and purified protein derivative (PPD). The purification procedure using enzymic digestion did not affect the immunogenicity of armadillo-derived M. leprae compared with the crude human-derived preparation, although 2.5- to 5-fold higher doses of the purified organisms were required to elicitate equivalent lymphocyte responses. The result indicated the suitability of purified armadillo-derived M. leprae as the standard antigen for lymphocyte transformation tests in leprosy. Cross-reactivity studies showed a close relationship between PPD and BCG, but not between M. leprae and PPD or BCG.