ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2019
Host immune responses induced by specific Mycobacterium leprae antigens in an overnight whole-blood assay correlate with the diagnosis of paucibacillary leprosy patients in China.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Preliminary evaluation of a neurological clinical pathway for the early detection of leprosy in low-endemic settings: A single-center exploratory study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Epidemiologic characteristics of leprosy in Mainland China, 2004-2020.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Neurological features of Hansen disease: a retrospective, multicenter cohort study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Utility of Multi-target Nested PCR and ELISPOT Assays for the Detection of Paucibacillary Leprosy: A Possible Conclusion of Clinical Laboratory Misdiagnosis.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Article
- Blood RNA signature RISK4LEP predicts leprosy years before clinical onset.EBioMedicine · 2021Article
- Transcriptomic Analysis ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Article
- Prevention and Treatment of Leprosy - China, 2009-2019.China CDC weekly · 2020Review
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5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
backgroundLeprosy, caused by Mycobacterium leprae, affects over 200,000 people annually worldwide and remains endemic in the ethnically diverse, mountainous and underdeveloped southwestern provinces of China. Delayed diagnosis of leprosy persists in China, thus, additional knowledge to support early diagnosis, especially early diagnosis of paucibacillary (PB) patients, based on the host immune responses induced by specific M. leprae antigens is needed. The current study aimed to investigate leprosy patients and controls in Southwest China by comparing supernatants after stimulation with specific M. leprae antigens in an overnight whole-blood assay (WBA) to determine whether host markers induced by specific M. leprae antigens improve the diagnosis or discrimination of PB patients with leprosy. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsLeprosy patients [13 multibacillary (MB) patients and 7 PB patients] and nonleprosy controls [21 healthy household contacts (HHCs), 20 endemic controls (ECs) and 19 tuberculosis (TB) patients] were enrolled in this study. The supernatant levels of ten host markers stimulated by specific M. leprae antigens were evaluated by overnight WBA and multiplex Luminex assays. The diagnostic value in PB patients and ECs and the discriminatory value between PB patients and HHCs or TB patients were evaluated by receiver operator characteristics (ROC) analysis. ML2044-stimulated CXCL8/IL-8 achieved the highest sensitivity of 100%, with a specificity of 73.68%, for PB diagnosis. Compared to single markers, a 3-marker combination model that included ML2044-induced CXCL8/IL-8, CCL4/MIP-1 beta, and IL-6 improved the diagnostic specificity to 94.7% for PB patients. ML2044-stimulated IL-4 and CXCL8/IL-8 achieved the highest sensitivity (85.71% and 100%) and the highest specificity (95.24% and 84.21%) for discriminating PB patients from HHCs and TB patients, respectively.
conclusionsOur findings suggest that the host markers induced by specific M. leprae antigens in an overnight WBA increase diagnostic and discriminatory value in PB patients with leprosy, with a particularly strong association with interleukin 8.
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