@article{15288,
  keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Animals, Antigens, Bacterial, BCG Vaccine, Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic, Epitopes, Female, Humans, Immunity, Cellular, Immunoelectrophoresis, Two-Dimensional, leprosy, Lymphocyte Activation, Male, Middle Aged, Mycobacterium leprae, Rabbits, Tuberculin},
  author = {Closs O and Reitan L J and Negassi K and Harboe M and Belehu A},
  title = {In vitro stimulation of lymphocytes in leprosy patients, healthy contacts of leprosy patients, and subjects not exposed to leprosy. Comparison of an antigen fraction prepared from Mycobacterium leprae and tuberculin-purified protein derivative.},
  abstract = {<p>In vitro lymphocyte stimulation was performed on peripheral blood lymphocytes from 48 leprosy patients, 15 healthy contacts of leprosy patients, and 16 normal controls who lived in a leprosy-free area and who had not been exposed to leprosy. Tuberculin PPD and an antigen fraction. MLW 1, prepared from M. leprae, were used as stimulants. The MLW 1 preparation contained one antibody-precipitable component when tested in crossed immunoelectrophoresis against a polyvalent anti-M. leprae immunoglobulin preparation, namely the ML 7 antigen. MLW 1 induced strong lymphocyte responses in patients with tuberculoid leprosy and healthy contacts of leprosy patients, but only a weak or no responses in lepromatous leprosy patients and non-exposed controls. A marked depression of the response to tuberculin PPD was observed in lepromatous leprosy patients. The specificity of the MLW 1 antigen is discussed, and a new estimator of specific lymphocyte stimulation, the delta cpm', is introduced.</p>},
  year = {1982},
  journal = {Scandinavian journal of immunology},
  volume = {16},
  pages = {103-15},
  month = {1982 Aug},
  issn = {0300-9475},
  doi = {10.1111/j.1365-3083.1982.tb00704.x},
  language = {eng},
}