The MBT NUM score identifies patients with leprosy
The levels of αPGL-I IgM, IP-10, CCL4, CRP, S100A12, and ApoA1 were assessed by the MBT strip. The NUM score, indicating the number of positive biomarkers based on the ratio value, was calculated per individual (y axis).
(A) NUM scores observed in the cohort from Bangladesh (plasma) comparing patients with leprosy to healthy endemic controls (ECs).
(B) NUM scores in the South Korean cohort comparing patients with leprosy to healthy controls (C), household contacts (HCs), or patients with other dermatological diseases (ODDs). Group differences were determined using the Mann-Whitney U test; the statistical significance level used was p ≤ 0.05. ∗p ≤ 0.05, ∗∗p ≤ 0.01, ∗∗∗p ≤ 0.001, ∗∗∗∗p ≤ 0.0001. Patients with multibacillary leprosy are indicated with orange dots, patients with paucibacillary leprosy with blue dots, HCs with green dots, patients with ODDs with gray dots, and healthy controls with white dots.