Macfarlane A, Mondragon-Gonzalez R, Vega-Lopez F, Wieles B, de Pena J, Rodriguez O, Suarez y de la Torre R, de Vries R R, Ottenhoff T H, Dockrell H M
Immunology Unit, Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, United Kingdom.
Clin Diagn Lab Immunol. 2001 May;8(3):604-11. doi: 10.1128/CDLI.8.3.604-611.2001.
The ability of the 45-kDa serine-rich Mycobacterium leprae antigen to stimulate peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) proliferation and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) production was measured in leprosy patients, household contacts, and healthy controls from areas of endemicity in Mexico. Almost all the tuberculoid leprosy patients gave strong PBMC proliferation responses to the M. leprae 45-kDa antigen (92.8%; n = 14). Responses were lower in lepromatous leprosy patients (60.6%; n = 34), but some responses to the 45-kDa antigen were detected in patients unresponsive to M. leprae sonicate. The proportion of positive responses to the M. leprae 45-kDa antigen was much higher in leprosy contacts (88%; n = 17) than in controls from areas of endemicity (10%; n = 20). None of 15 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis gave a positive proliferation response to the 45-kDa antigen. The 45-kDa antigen induced IFN-gamma secretion similar to that induced by the native Mycobacterium tuberculosis 30/31-kDa antigen in tuberculoid leprosy patients and higher responses than those induced by the other recombinant antigens (M. leprae 10- and 65-kDa antigens, thioredoxin, and thioredoxin reductase); in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis it induced lower IFN-gamma secretion than the other recombinant antigens. These results suggest that the M. leprae 45-kDa antigen is a potent T-cell antigen which is M. leprae specific in these Mexican donors. This antigen may therefore have diagnostic potential as a new skin test reagent or as an antigen in a simple whole-blood cytokine test.
在墨西哥麻风病流行地区的麻风病患者、家庭接触者和健康对照人群中，检测了45 kDa富含丝氨酸的麻风分枝杆菌抗原刺激外周血单个核细胞（PBMC）增殖及γ干扰素（IFN-γ）产生的能力。几乎所有结核样型麻风病患者对麻风分枝杆菌45 kDa抗原均产生强烈的PBMC增殖反应（92.8%；n = 14）。瘤型麻风病患者的反应较低（60.6%；n = 34），但在对麻风分枝杆菌超声裂解物无反应的患者中也检测到了一些对45 kDa抗原的反应。麻风病接触者中对麻风分枝杆菌45 kDa抗原呈阳性反应的比例（88%；n = 17）远高于流行地区对照人群（10%；n = 20）。15例肺结核患者中无一例对45 kDa抗原产生阳性增殖反应。在结核样型麻风病患者中，45 kDa抗原诱导的IFN-γ分泌与天然结核分枝杆菌30/31 kDa抗原诱导分泌的情况相似，且比其他重组抗原（麻风分枝杆菌10 kDa和65 kDa抗原、硫氧还蛋白及硫氧还蛋白还原酶）诱导的反应更强；在肺结核患者中，它诱导的IFN-γ分泌低于其他重组抗原。这些结果表明，麻风分枝杆菌45 kDa抗原是一种有效的T细胞抗原，在这些墨西哥供体中具有麻风分枝杆菌特异性。因此，该抗原作为一种新皮肤试验试剂或简单全血细胞因子检测中的抗原可能具有诊断潜力。
