@article{9963,
  keywords = {Antibodies, Bacterial, Antigens, Bacterial, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Glycolipids, Humans, Immunoglobulin A, Immunoglobulin Isotypes, leprosy, Liposomes, Mycobacterium leprae},
  author = {Schwerer B and Chujor C S and Bernheimer H and Radl J and Haaijman J J and Meeker H C and Sersen G and Levis W R},
  title = {IgA antibodies against phenolic glycolipid I from Mycobacterium leprae in serum of leprosy patients and contacts: subclass distribution and relation to disease activity.},
  abstract = {<p>The anti-PGL-I IgA response against phenolic glycolipid I (PGL-I) a specific surface antigen of Mycobacterium leprae, was demonstrated to be essentially of the IgA1 subclass in sera from leprosy patients and contacts. Anti-PGL-I IgA1 mean levels were found to increase significantly from the tuberculoid toward the lepromatous pole of the leprosy disease spectrum, thus resembling the predominating anti-PGL-I IgM response. Furthermore, anti-PGL-I IgA1 values were shown to increase significantly with increasing bacillary load, measured as bacillary index (BI) from skin biopsies. However, a number of BI negative leprosy patients recorded elevated anti-PGL-I IgA1 levels possibly reflecting a persistence of disease activity. Three of 28 household or family contacts of leprosy patients were detected seropositive for anti-PGL-I IgA1. Thus, our results suggest that anti-PGL-I IgA1 may be considered as an additional parameter for the early detection of infection with M. leprae.</p>},
  year = {1989},
  journal = {Clinical immunology and immunopathology},
  volume = {53},
  pages = {202-11},
  month = {1989 Nov},
  issn = {0090-1229},
  doi = {10.1016/0090-1229(89)90050-0},
  language = {eng},
}