Serum protein bound fucose (PBF) in untreated leprosy patients

Protein-Bound Fucose (PBF) content in sera from normal persons and untreated lepromatous or near lepromatous leprosy patients was measured and statistically analysed. Normal serum gave a mean value of 8.15 +/- 2.7 mg% and the sera of leprosy patients gave a value of 13.3 +/- 3.38%. The fucose contents in the glycoprotein and mucoprotein fractions were determined and found to increase in untreated leprosy patients. The values for ratio of fucose to protein also were found to be high in the sera of patients studied.