Downmodulation of Regulatory T Cells Producing TGF-β Participates in Pathogenesis of Leprosy Reactions.

Leprosy reactions are an acute and systemic manifestation, which occurs suddenly, can be severe and lead leprosy patients to disability. Reactional episodes are observed among half of the multibacillary patients, mainly in borderline lepromatous and lepromatous forms. They may begin at any time during multidrug therapy, and even before the treatment.

Presence of Senescent and Memory CD8+ Leukocytes as Immunocenescence Markers in Skin Lesions of Elderly Leprosy Patients.

Leprosy is an infectious disease that remains endemic in approximately 100 developing countries, where about 200,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Moreover, multibacillary leprosy, the most contagious form of the disease, has been detected at continuously higher rates among Brazilian elderly people. Due to the so-called immunosenescence, characterized by several alterations in the quality of the immune response during aging, this group is more susceptible to infectious diseases.

Increased oxidative stress in elderly leprosy patients is related to age but not to bacillary load.

Background: Leprosy continues to be a public health problem in Brazil. Furthermore, detection rates in elderly people have increased, particularly those of multibacillary (L-Lep) patients, who are responsible for transmitting M. leprae.

Role of TEFFECTOR/MEMORY Cells, TBX21 Gene Expression and T-Cell Homing Receptor on Type 1 Reaction in Borderline Lepromatous Leprosy Patients.

In spite of hyporesponsivity to Mycobacterium leprae, borderline lepromatous (BL) patients show clinical and immunological instability, and undergo frequent acute inflammatory episodes such as type 1 reaction (T1R), which may cause nerve damages. This work focused on the participation of T cell subsets from blood and skin at T1R onset. We observed a significantly increased ex vivo frequency of both effector and memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in T1R group.