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. 1989 Apr;57(4):1311–1317. doi: 10.1128/iai.57.4.1311-1317.1989

Correlation between macrophage activation and bactericidal function and Mycobacterium leprae antigen presentation in macrophages of leprosy patients and normal individuals.

S D Desai 1, T J Birdi 1, N H Antia 1
PMCID: PMC313267  PMID: 2494115

Abstract

The killing of Mycobacterium leprae by resting and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma)-activated macrophages in normal subjects and leprosy patients was assessed. Resting macrophages from normal individuals demonstrated the ability to kill M. leprae. For macrophages from tuberculoid patients, killing of M. leprae was only achieved in the presence of IFN-gamma, suggesting that initial T-cell activation occurs prior to the killing of M. leprae. In contrast, though activation with IFN-gamma rendered the lepromatous macrophages microbicidal, it failed to induce lymphocyte proliferation, suggesting a defect at either the antigen-presenting cell or the lymphocyte level or both. The concept that T-cell anergy is primarily due to lack of lymphokine generation was ruled out by our results, since responsiveness was restored in only a small proportion of lepromatous patients after exogenous lymphokine addition. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that killing and antigen presentation are two independent events. It appears that the ability of the macrophages per se to kill M. leprae may be of greater importance than lymphocyte-mediated activation for protection against M. leprae infection.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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