Dhungel S, Ranjit C, Sapkota B R, Macdonald M
Leprosy Mission Nepal, Anandaban Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Nepal Med Coll J. 2008 Mar;10(1):1-3.
Phenolic glycolipid-I (PGL-I) is known to be a major antigen of Mycobacterium leprae. We have studied the influence of PGL-I on the production of Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-alpha) using the in vitro whole blood assay. Armadillo-derived M. leprae (ADML) are thought to be depleted of PGL-I during the purification process. M. leprae obtained from mouse foot pad material (MFPML) has been subjected to a less rigorous purification process; their PGL-I coating is therefore believed to be more intact than that of ADML. PGL-I or ADML alone induced the secretion of minimal levels of TNF-alpha in whole blood assay; when added in combination, higher levels of this cytokine were observed. The highest TNF-alpha response was seen following stimulation with MFPML. MFP material not infected with ML did not elicit any response. The difference in TNF-alpha response shown by ADML and MFPML was postulated to be largely due to the presence of higher levels of PGL-I in MFPML. This increase in TNF-alpha production suggests that PGL-I may play a significant role in the induction of TNF-alpha during natural infection.
酚糖脂-I（PGL-I）已知是麻风分枝杆菌的主要抗原。我们使用体外全血检测法研究了PGL-I对肿瘤坏死因子α（TNF-α）产生的影响。据认为，犰狳源麻风分枝杆菌（ADML）在纯化过程中PGL-I会减少。从小鼠足垫材料获得的麻风分枝杆菌（MFPML）经过的纯化过程不那么严格；因此，它们的PGL-I包膜被认为比ADML的更完整。在全血检测中，单独的PGL-I或ADML诱导分泌的TNF-α水平最低；当联合添加时，观察到该细胞因子水平更高。用MFPML刺激后观察到最高的TNF-α反应。未感染麻风分枝杆菌的MFP材料未引发任何反应。ADML和MFPML显示出的TNF-α反应差异据推测主要是由于MFPML中PGL-I水平较高。TNF-α产生的这种增加表明，PGL-I在自然感染期间TNF-α的诱导中可能起重要作用。
