Defining Protective Responses to Pathogens: Cytokine Profiles in Leprosy Lesions

The immunological mechanisms required to engender resistance have been defined in few infectious diseases of man, and the role of specific cytokines is unclear. Leprosy presents clinically as a spectrmn in which resistance correlates with cell-mediated immunity to the pathogen. To assess in sim cyto...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1991-10, Vol.254 (5029), p.277-279
Main Authors: Yamamura, Masahiro, Uyemura, Koichi, Deans, Robert J., Weinberg, Kenneth, Rea, Thomas H., Bloom, Barry R., Modlin, Robert L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Base Sequence
Complementary DNA
Cytokines
Cytokines - genetics
Cytokines - physiology
Genetics
Humans
Immune response
Immunity (Disease)
Immunity, Innate
Infections
Infectious diseases
Interferon-gamma - physiology
Interleukin-10 - physiology
Interleukin-2 - physiology
Interleukin-4 - physiology
Interleukin-5 - physiology
Leprosy
Leprosy - immunology
Lesions
Medical research
Messenger RNA
Molecular Sequence Data
Mycobacterium leprae
Pathogens
Polymerase Chain Reaction
RNA, Messenger - genetics
Skin - immunology
T lymphocytes
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Summary:The immunological mechanisms required to engender resistance have been defined in few infectious diseases of man, and the role of specific cytokines is unclear. Leprosy presents clinically as a spectrmn in which resistance correlates with cell-mediated immunity to the pathogen. To assess in sim cytokine patterns, messenger RNA extracted from leprosy skin biopsy specimens was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction with 14 cytokine-specific primers. In lesions of the resistant form of the disease, messenger RNAs coding for interleukin-2 and interferon-γ were most evident. In contrast, messenger RNAs for interleukin-4, interleukin-5, and interleukin-10 predominated in the multibacillary form. Thus, resistance and susceptibility were correlated with distinct patterns of cytokine production.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1925582