FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Volume 307:1593-1597 December 23, 1982 Number 26 Next

	Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited PubMed Citation

Abstract

We report on the characteristics of cells in the cutaneous lesions and blood of 21 patients with lepromatous, tuberculoid, and intermediate forms of leprosy. A large proportion of the infiltrates in lepromatous lesions consist of macrophages heavily parasitized with Mycobacterium leprae. The T cells in the lesions are devoid of OKT4/Leu 3a-positive ("helper") cells and consist almost exclusively of OKT8/Leu 2a-positive ("suppressor") populations. In contrast, the tuberculoid infiltrates contain well-organized epithelioid and giant-cell granulomas and only remnants of bacilli, and the predominant T cell is from the OKT4/Leu 3a-positive subset. In both tuberculoid and lepromatous infiltrates, T cells and macrophages expressed HLA-DR antigen. No marked alteration in the distribution of blood T-cell phenotypes was noted. We conclude that there is a marked difference between T-cell subsets in lepromatous and tuberculoid infiltrates, which may influence the microbicidal activity of macrophages in the lesions.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Sieling, P. A., Jullien, D., Dahlem, M., Tedder, T. F., Rea, T. H., Modlin, R. L., Porcelli, S. A. (1999). CD1 Expression by Dendritic Cells in Human Leprosy Lesions: Correlation with Effective Host Immunity. J. Immunol. 162: 1851-1858 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Zea, A. H., Ochoa, M. T., Ghosh, P., Longo, D. L., Alvord, W. G., Valderrama, L., Falabella, R., Harvey, L. K., Saravia, N., Moreno, L. H., Ochoa, A. C. (1998). Changes in Expression of Signal Transduction Proteins in T Lymphocytes of Patients with Leprosy. Infect. Immun. 66: 499-504 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Yamamura, M, Uyemura, K, Deans, R., Weinberg, K, Rea, T., Bloom, B., Modlin, R. (1991). Defining protective responses to pathogens: cytokine profiles in leprosy lesions. Science 254: 277-279 [Abstract]  
• Salgame, P, Abrams, J., Clayberger, C, Goldstein, H, Convit, J, Modlin, R., Bloom, B. (1991). Differing lymphokine profiles of functional subsets of human CD4 and CD8 T cell clones. Science 254: 279-282 [Abstract]