Antigen recognition by serum antibodies in non-human primates experimentally infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis is a significant threat to non-human primates and their caretakers. The diagnosis of tuberculosis in living non-human primates is currently based on the tuberculin skin test, which is cumbersome and sometimes inaccurate. Development of an accurate serodiagnostic test requires identification of the key antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis involved in antibody production. When sequential serum samples obtained from 17 cynomolgus, rhesus, and African green monkeys up to seven months since experimental infection with M. tuberculosis Erdman were screened for antibody against purified proteins of M. tuberculosis, three highly seroreactive antigens were identified. One protein, ESAT-6, reacted with sera from all infected animals. Two additional proteins, alpha-crystallin and MTSA-10, were recognized by sera from approximately 90% of infected animals. Time course analysis of antibody production indicated that the earliest response was usually to ESAT-6 alone or to ESAT-6 and other antigen(s). These results provide experimental evidence of the potential value of ESAT-6 as an antigen for use in serodiagnosis of tuberculosis in non-human primates.

Lepromatous leprosy in reaction

Biopsies of the skin and liver were obtained from a patient with Lucio´s type of leprosy and from one with erythema nodosum leprosum. Vasculitis, a dense inflammatory exudate, and necrosis of the skin characyerized the Lucio type of leprosy; in erythema nodosum leprosum the vasculitis was not so severe and necrosis didi not occur. Large numbers of organisms in the endothelial cells of the vessels in the skin could have given rise to bacteremia and development of the disease in the liver. The liver in the patient with Lucio´s phenomenon contained tuberculoid lesions, whereas necrosis of sinusoidal walls and many Virchow´s cells were noted in the other patient. Leprosy becilli in Kupffer cells were easily demonstrated with electron microscopy. The presence of the bacteria within membrane-bound phagocytic vacuoles and the fusion of lysosomes with the vacuoles were seen...