A Study of Blastogenic Transformation Under Phytomaemagglutinin (pha) in Leprosy

The present study was aimed to assess the cell-mediated immune response under PHA stimulus in leprosy patients and healthy contacts. Twenty-one cases suffering from leprosy were included in the study. They were diagnosed clinically by skin biopsy,. smear examination and lepromin reaction. Five cases had lepromatous, 7 borderlines and 9 tuberculoid leprosy. Eleven were healthy contacts. Lepromin reaction was negative in 5 patients in lepromatous group while it was positive in the other patients and healthy contacts. Blastogenic transformation was depressed only in patients with lepromatous leprosy. In tuberculoid and borderline cases, lymphocytes exhibited similar reactivity with PHA as was shown by the controls. Healthy contacts of lepromatous leprosy patients were leprom'm positive and did not show any C M I depression. it is suggested that depression of PHA response may develop after the on set of leprosy infection.