Effect of Phytohemagglutinin and Various Mycobacterial Antigens on Lymphocyte Cultures from Leprosy Patients

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Abstract
Leprosy patients and normal controls were studied for lymphocyte transformation in vitro to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and to antigens from M. leprae and M. tuberculosis. Most patients with active lepromatous leprosy, the severe form of the disease, had markedly depressed lymphocyte responses to PHA as well as to the mycobacterial antigens. The response to PHA was only moderately depressed in patients with tuberculoid leprosy, the milder form of the disease, and in patients whose lepromatous disease had been rendered inactive by long-term therapy.