The Cutaneous Infiltrates of Leprosy

作者：Wesley C. Van Voorhis, Gilla Kaplan, Euzenir Nunes Sarno, Marcus A. Horwitz, Ralph M. Steinman, William R. Levis, Nadia Accioly Pinto Nogueira, Laura S. Hair, Cerli Rocha Gattass, Bradley A. Arrick, Zanvil A. Cohn · 发表于：New England Journal of Medicine · 年份：1982 · DOI：10.1056/nejm198212233072601 · 被引用次数：221 · 研究领域：Leprosy Research and Treatment、Mycobacterium research and diagnosis、Infectious Diseases and Tuberculosis

We report on the characteristics of cells in the cutaneous lesions and blood of 21 patients with lepromatous, tuberculoid, and intermediate forms of leprosy. A large proportion of the infiltrates in lepromatous lesions consist of macrophages heavily parasitized with Mycobacterium leprae. The T cells in the lesions are devoid of OKT4/Leu 3a-positive ("helper") cells and consist almost exclusively of OKT8/Leu 2a-positive ("suppressor") populations. In contrast, the tuberculoid infiltrates contain well-organized epithelioid and giant-cell granulomas and only remnants of bacilli, and the predominant T cell is from the OKT4/Leu 3a-positive subset. In both tuberculoid and lepromatous infiltrates, T cells and macrophages expressed HLA-DR antigen. No marked alteration in the distribution of blood T-cell phenotypes was noted. We conclude that there is a marked difference between T-cell subsets in lepromatous and tuberculoid infiltrates, which may influence the microbicidal activity of macrophages in the lesions.