Serum Tumor Necrosis Factor Levels and Disease Dissemination in Leprosy and Leishmaniasis

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Abstract
It has been suggested that tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) may serve as an important antigen-independent host defense mechanism against parasitic organisms. Sera from 66 patients with leishmaniasis and 68 patients with leprosy, all from Ethiopia, were tested for TNFα using an enzyme-linked immunoassay. Sera from patients with the multi-parasitic/bacillary type of disease (visceral or diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis and lepromatous leprosy), known to be associated with absent or low specific T cell response, contained significantly higher TNFα titers than those of patients with pauci-parasitic/bacillary disease (localized cutaneous leishmaniasis and nonlepromatous leprosy). High titers of TNFα in the absence of a functioning T cell response do not appear to confer resistance against Leishmania aethiopica and Mycobacterium leprae.

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