SEROLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF A CHARACTERISTIC PHENOLIC GLYCOLIPID FROM MYCOBACTERIUM-LEPRAE IN SERA FROM PATIENTS WITH LEPROSY AND TUBERCULOSIS

Abstract

Serological activity against a purified phenolic glycolipid from M. leprae, obtained in large amounts from M. leprae infected armadillo liver, was investigated using immunodiffusion and an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). A good correlation was obtained between these techniques; the ELISA was more sensitive and convenient. Relatively high IgG and IgM anti-glycolipd antibody levels were found in lepromatous leprosy patients. The antibody titers to the glycolipid were low when compared with antibody titers to crude sonicates. The presence of large quantities of glycolipid suggested that it is not very immunogenic. Antibody against the glycolipid, especially of the IgM class, was demonstrable in some tuberculoid leprosy patients, although at much lower titers than in the lepromatous leprosy sera. In lepromatous leprosy patients that were skin smear negative after > 5 yr of treatment, the IgG anti-M. leprae derived glycolipid activity had decreased markedly. The anti-IgG and IgM glycolipid antibody levels in tuberculosis patients did not differ significantly from the levels in appropriate normal healthy subjects. The glycolipid antibody levels in patients infected with M. kansasii, M. avium or M. intracellulare also fell within the range of normal healthy individuals.