ANTIBODIES TO MYCOBACTERIAL ARABINOMANNAN IN LEPROSY - CORRELATION WITH REACTIONAL STATES AND VARIATION DURING TREATMENT

  • 1 January 1984
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 52  (2) , 133-139
Abstract
An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure antibody to mycobacterial arabinomannan in serial serum specimens obtained over the initial 12-31 mo. of therapy from 9 patients with leprosy. The antibody level in pretreatment sera was directly proportional to the quantity of Mycobacterium leprae present in each patient as assessed by 6-site scrapings (r = 0.75). The 3 patients with the lowest antibody levels (OD [optical density] 0.1-0.3) had uncomplicated courses; their levels declined slowly with treatment. Three patients with intermediate antibody levels (OD 0.7-1.1) each experienced a reversal reaction during therapy; serial antibody titers in all 3 followed a triphasic pattern over the course of the reaction. The 2 patients who developed erythema nodosum leprosum during therapy had extremely high levels of antibody initially (OD > 1.5), which fell slowly with time and which were unaffected by the reactional state. The pretreatment antibody level to arabinomannan reflects the amount of M. leprae present and may have predictive value for the development of reactional states.