Hussain R, Kifayet A, Chiang T J
Department of Microbiology, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
Infect Immun. 1995 Feb;63(2):410-5. doi: 10.1128/iai.63.2.410-415.1995.
Mycobacterium leprae-specific and polyclonal immunoglobulin G (IgG) subclass and IgE antibodies in leprosy patients across the histopathological spectrum were determined by using a quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Antibody responses to M. leprae sonicates were detected only in IgG1, -2, and -3 subclasses. Even at 100-times-lower dilutions, very little IgG4 and IgE antibody activity against M. leprae was detected in any group of leprosy patients. Quantitatively, antibody responses were highest at the lepromatous pole and decreased towards the tuberculoid pole. The greatest quantitative difference in antibodies between the lepromatous and tuberculoid poles was observed with IgG1 (140-fold), this was followed by the difference with IgG3 antibodies (32-fold). Polyclonal antibodies, on the other hand, were elevated for all four IgG subclasses as well as IgE in both lepromatous and tuberculoid leprosy patients compared with healthy controls from a leprosy-endemic area. Selective elevation of M. leprae-specific antibody responses in IgG1 and IgG3 subclasses, therefore, could not be attributed to selective polyclonal activation in these particular subclasses. Furthermore, polyclonal activation for IgE was observed in both lepromatous and tuberculoid leprosy patients, with higher levels in the tuberculoid group, which does not support selective TH2 activation in lepromatous leprosy patients. IgG1 and IgG3 antibodies also showed the highest Spearman rank correlation with the bacterial index in these patients (rho = 0.748 and P < 0.001 for IgG1; rho = 0.721 and and P < 0.001 for IgG3). Thus, disease progression in leprosy showed a significant correlation with selective increases in IgG1 and IgG3 responses.
通过定量酶联免疫吸附测定法，测定了组织病理学范围内麻风病患者中麻风分枝杆菌特异性及多克隆免疫球蛋白G（IgG）亚类和IgE抗体。仅在IgG1、-2和-3亚类中检测到针对麻风分枝杆菌超声裂解物的抗体反应。即使在稀释100倍的情况下，任何一组麻风病患者中针对麻风分枝杆菌的IgG4和IgE抗体活性也检测到极少。定量分析显示，抗体反应在瘤型极最高，并向结核样型极降低。瘤型和结核样型极之间抗体的最大定量差异在IgG1中观察到（140倍），其次是IgG3抗体的差异（32倍）。另一方面，与来自麻风病流行地区的健康对照相比，瘤型和结核样型麻风病患者的所有四个IgG亚类以及IgE的多克隆抗体均升高。因此，IgG1和IgG3亚类中麻风分枝杆菌特异性抗体反应的选择性升高不能归因于这些特定亚类中的选择性多克隆激活。此外，在瘤型和结核样型麻风病患者中均观察到IgE的多克隆激活，结核样型组水平更高，这并不支持瘤型麻风病患者中选择性TH2激活。在这些患者中，IgG1和IgG3抗体与细菌指数也显示出最高的斯皮尔曼等级相关性（IgG1的rho = 0.748，P < 0.001；IgG3的rho = 0.721，P < 0.001）。因此，麻风病的疾病进展与IgG1和IgG3反应的选择性增加显著相关。
