Roche P W, Neupane K D, Britton W J
Mycobacterial Research Laboratory, Anandaban Leprosy Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Clin Exp Immunol. 1992 Jul;89(1):110-4. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1992.tb06887.x.
Cell walls of M. leprae consist of complex arrangements of carbohydrate, lipid, peptidoglycan and protein molecules. Recently, extractable proteins of a wide range of molecular weights were identified as components of the cell wall. We have examined the cellular immune responses of Nepali leprosy patients to a cell wall preparation of M. leprae enriched for these proteins. Strong lymphocyte proliferative responses to the antigens were present in half of the paucibacillary leprosy patients and in the majority of healthy control subjects with occupational exposure to leprosy. Patients with multibacillary disease responded poorly and patients with tuberculosis had intermediate responses. Proliferative responses to the cell wall protein fraction were strongly correlated to the proliferative responses to sonicates of the whole leprosy bacillus. Immunization of mice with cell wall proteins resulted in inhibition of growth of M. leprae following foot-pad inoculation with viable organisms. Therefore cell-mediated immune responses to the extractable proteins of the cell wall may play a role in protective immunity against M. leprae infection.
麻风杆菌的细胞壁由碳水化合物、脂质、肽聚糖和蛋白质分子的复杂排列组成。最近，多种分子量的可提取蛋白质被鉴定为细胞壁的成分。我们检测了尼泊尔麻风病患者对富含这些蛋白质的麻风杆菌细胞壁制剂的细胞免疫反应。半数少菌型麻风病患者以及大多数职业性接触麻风病的健康对照者对这些抗原呈现强烈的淋巴细胞增殖反应。多菌型疾病患者反应较差，结核病患者反应中等。对细胞壁蛋白组分的增殖反应与对整个麻风杆菌超声裂解物的增殖反应密切相关。用细胞壁蛋白免疫小鼠后，在脚垫接种活的麻风杆菌后，麻风杆菌的生长受到抑制。因此，针对细胞壁可提取蛋白质的细胞介导免疫反应可能在抗麻风杆菌感染的保护性免疫中发挥作用。
