4.6 Review

In search of biomarkers for leprosy by unraveling the host immune response to Mycobacterium leprae

Journal

IMMUNOLOGICAL REVIEWS
Volume 301, Issue 1, Pages 175-192

Publisher

WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/imr.12966

Keywords

bacterial < infectious diseases; biomarkers; immune response; leprosy; Mycobacterium leprae

Categories

Funding

  1. The Turing Foundation [703.15.07]
  2. Leprosy Research Initiative
  3. Q.M. Gastmann-Wichers Stichting

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The causative agent of leprosy, Mycobacterium leprae, is still actively transmitted in endemic areas. Improved diagnostic tools based on biomarkers are urgently needed to address the challenges in recognizing the signs and symptoms of leprosy. Studying the relationship between M leprae and host immune cells may provide new insights for the identification of biomarkers to improve leprosy diagnostics.
Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agent of leprosy, is still actively transmitted in endemic areas reflected by the fairly stable number of new cases detected each year. Recognizing the signs and symptoms of leprosy is challenging, especially at an early stage. Improved diagnostic tools, based on sensitive and specific biomarkers, that facilitate diagnosis of leprosy are therefore urgently needed. In this review, we address the challenges that leprosy biomarker research is facing by reviewing cell types reported to be involved in host immunity to M leprae. These cell types can be associated with different possible fates of M leprae infection being either protective immunity, or pathogenic immune responses inducing nerve damage. Unraveling these responses will facilitate the search for biomarkers. Implications for further studies to disentangle the complex interplay between host responses that lead to leprosy disease are discussed, providing leads for the identification of new biomarkers to improve leprosy diagnostics.

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