ArticleThe Brazilian journal of infectious diseases : an official publication of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases
qPCR detection of Mycobacterium leprae in biopsies and slit skin smear of different leprosy clinical forms.
Article in The Brazilian journal of infectious diseases : an official publication of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
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37 citing papers in PubMed, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dual template (epitope) imprinting of Mycobacterium leprae bacterial protein for enhanced MIP-EQCM sensing.Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry · 2026Article
- Accuracy of Ultrasound-Guided Ulnar Perineural Subcutaneous Aspirate for the Diagnosis and Control of Leprosy: Protocol for a Prospective Diagnostic Evaluation Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Therapeutic failure of multidrug therapy for leprosy: A retrospective case series in a hyperendemic Brazilian City.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Determinants of leprosy among patients visiting Sheshamane comprehensive specialized hospital, West Arsi zone, oromia region, ethiopia: a case-control study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Thermodynamic Determinants in Antibody-Free Nucleic Acid Lateral Flow Assays (AF-NALFA): Lessons from Molecular Detection ofBiomolecules · 2025Article
- Exploration of tongue dorsum sampling to support clinical diagnosis of leprosy patients in the Comoros: A cross-sectional study.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Accuracy of the qPCR method in intradermal scraping samples from individuals with suspected leprosy in a Brazilian macroregion.Scientific reports · 2025Observational
- Determinants of Delayed Leprosy Diagnosis in an Endemic Area of Northeast Brazil: A Cross-Sectional Study.Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical · 2025Article
- Efficiency of the Sensory Mapping Score for Hansens's disease diagnosis and follow-up: a functional cure criterion?Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Validation of the performance of a point of care molecular test for leprosy: From a simplified DNA extraction protocol to a portable qPCR.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- qPCR detection ofFrontiers in molecular biosciences · 2024Article
- MicroRNA biomarkers in leprosy: insights from the Northern Brazilian Amazon population and their implications in disease immune-physiopathology.Frontiers in genetics · 2024Article
- Challenges and advances in serological and molecular tests to aid leprosy diagnosis.Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.) · 2023Review
- Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction for Detection of Mycobacterium leprae DNA in Tissue Specimens from Patients with Leprosy.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2023Article
- Leprosy in an Adopted Woman Diagnosed by Molecular Tools: A Case Report from a Non-Endemic Area.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Specialized active leprosy search strategies in an endemic area of the Brazilian Amazon identifies a hypermutatedFrontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Leprosy among children in an area without primary health care coverage in Caratateua Island, Brazilian Amazon.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Serological testing for Hansen's disease diagnosis: Clinical significance and performance of IgA, IgM, and IgG antibodies against Mce1A protein.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Development and validation of a multiplex real-time qPCR assay using GMP-grade reagents for leprosy diagnosis.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Article
- Bacilloscopy and polymerase chain reaction of slit-skin smears and anti-phenolic glycolipid-I serology for Hansen's disease diagnosis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Leprosy, whose etiological agent is Mycobacterium leprae, is a chronic infectious disease that mainly affects the skin and peripheral nervous system. The diagnosis of leprosy is based on clinical evaluation, whereas histopathological analysis and bacilloscopy are complementary diagnostic tools. Quantitative PCR (qPCR), a current useful tool for diagnosis of infectious diseases, has been used to detect several pathogens including Mycobacterium leprae. The validation of this technique in a robust set of samples comprising the different clinical forms of leprosy is still necessary. Thus, in this study samples from 126 skin biopsies (collected from patients on all clinical forms and reactional states of leprosy) and 25 slit skin smear of leprosy patients were comparatively analyzed by qPCR (performed with primers for the RLEP region of M. leprae DNA) and routine bacilloscopy performed in histological sections or in slit skin smear. Considering clinical diagnostic as the gold standard, 84.9% of the leprosy patients were qPCR positive in skin biopsies, resulting in 84.92% sensitivity, with 84.92 and 61.22% positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values, respectively. Concerning bacilloscopy of histological sections (BI/H), the sensitivity was 80.15% and the PPV and NPV were 80.15 and 44.44%, respectively. The concordance between qPCR and BI/H was 87.30%. Regarding the slit skin smear, 84% of the samples tested positive in the qPCR. Additionally, qPCR showed 100% specificity, since all samples from different mycobacteria, from healthy individuals, and from other granulomatous diseases presented negative results. In conclusion, the qPCR technique for detection of M. leprae using RLEP primers proved to be specific and sensitive, and qPCR can be used as a complementary test to diagnose leprosy irrespective of the clinical form of disease.
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