lactoferrin and Leprosy

To compare the role of topically applied serum therapy with preservative-free artificial tear (AT) drops in patients with moderate to severe dry eye in Hansen's disease along with change in tear protein profile.. 144 consecutive patients were randomly divided into three groups. After a baseline examination of clinical parameters, each of the patients received designated modality of topical therapy six times a day for 6 weeks. Post-treatment documentation of clinical parameters was done at 6 weeks, and then at 12 weeks after discontinuation of topical therapy. Analysis of three tear proteins using gel electrophoresis (sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) was done at baseline, at the first and second post-treatment visits.. In the cord blood serum (CBS) group, except for McMonnies score and staining score, all other clinical parameters showed continued improvement in the first and second post-treatment analyses. In the autologous serum (ALS) group, all the clinical parameters except Schirmer's I showed significant improvement in the first post-treatment analysis .This was sustained at a significant level in the second analysis except for tear film break-up time (TBUT) and conjunctival impression cytology grading. In the AT group, all the parameters improved at a non-significant level except for TBUT in the first analysis. In the next analysis, apart from McMonnies score and TBUT, other clinical parameters did not improve. In the ALS and CBS groups, tear lysozyme, lactoferrin levels improved in both post-treatment measurements (statistically insignificant).Total tear protein continued to increase at statistically significant levels in the first and second post-treatment analyses in the CBS group and at a statistically insignificant level in the ALS group. In the AT group, the three tear proteins continued to decrease in both the analyses.. In moderate to severe dry eye in Hansen's disease, serum therapy in comparison with AT drops, improves clinical parameters and causes betterment in tear protein profile.. CTRI/2013/07/003802.

Topics: Administration, Topical; Adult; Aged; Conjunctiva; Double-Blind Method; Dry Eye Syndromes; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Eye Infections, Bacterial; Eye Proteins; Female; Fetal Blood; Humans; Lactoferrin; Leprosy; Male; Middle Aged; Muramidase; Prospective Studies; Proteomics; Serum; Tears

Serum lactoferrin level, using competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method, was estimated in 298 leprosy patients admitted into the hospital and attending the out-patient department of the Schieffelin Leprosy Research and Training Center. Serum from an equal number of non-leprosy individuals served as control. Mean (SD) of serum lactoferrin in non-leprosy individuals was 0.277 (0-092) microg/ml while in leprosy patients it was 0.494 (0.394) microg/ml, the difference being significant (P=0.0001). Serum lactoferrin levels were not significantly associated with type 2 reactions (P=0.613). Serum lactoferrin was significantly associated with age (P = 0.006), duration of the disease (P=0.0001), DDS monotherapy (P =0.007), deformity (P= 0.005), average bacterial index (BI) (P=0.01) and smear positivity (P=0.0001), orbicularis oculi weakness (P= 0.001), lagophthalmos (P = 0.002), corneal opacity (P = 0.001) and cataract (P=0.004) in simple regression analysis. All these variables, with the exception of smear positivity (P=0.019), lost their significance (P>0.05) when analysed using multiple regression. Serum lactoferrin showed poor association with type 1 (P = 0.286) and type II reactions (P = 0.613) and iridocyclitis (P = 0.207). We conclude that serum lactoferrin is strongly and inversely associated with increasing BI but does not show significant association with type 2 reactions.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Case-Control Studies; Cross-Sectional Studies; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Humans; India; Lactoferrin; Leprosy; Male; Middle Aged; Mycobacterium leprae; Severity of Illness Index

Granulomatous lesions of human leprosy contained ferritin and lactoferrin but little or no transferrin, as demonstrated by the avidin-biotin complex immunoperoxidase method. Lactoferrin was found in the neutrophils. These results suggested that the cells of the host mononuclear phagocyte system in leprosy granulomas provide an adequate nutritional environment for iron acquisition by M. leprae. A possible role of iron binding proteins in the granulomas is discussed in relation to previous data on bovine paratuberculous granulomas.

Topics: Biopsy; Ferritins; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Lactoferrin; Leprosy; Skin; Transferrin

Secretory IgA, lactoferrin, albumin, and total protein were quantitated in colostrum and milk samples obtained from 215 Ethiopian nursing mothers over a period ranging from 1 day to 2 yr postparturition. IgG, IgM, C3, and C4 complement components were quantitated in 11 day 1 samples. The subjects were classified into three groups: lepromatous leprosy, borderline lepromatous leprosy, and a nonlepromatous group consisting of women with tuberculoid leprosy and healthy controls. Results obtained from the above groups were also compared with a group from Edinburgh. No major variation in levels of secretory IgA, lactoferrin, albumin, and total protein was found between the three groups of Ethiopian women. Results from the Edinburgh group were significantly higher, mainly in the level of total protein. When the individual proteins were expressed as a percentage of the total protein, there was no difference between the milk samples from the Ethiopian and Edinburgh mothers.

Topics: Albumins; Diet; Epidemiologic Methods; Ethiopia; Female; Humans; Immunoglobulin A, Secretory; Lactoferrin; Lactoglobulins; Leprosy; Milk, Human; Postpartum Period; Pregnancy; Scotland