Research on Leprosy
With the M. leprae genome now identified, researchers are looking at several different approaches to combating leprosy.
Innovative research efforts in the areas of early detection (prior to developing clinical symptoms), prevention of nerve damage, surveillance of areas where drug resistance is occurring, and study of molecular epidemiology are addressing the questions of transmission and the true extent of leprosy incidence.
These issues are being addressed in a concerted manner involving laboratories in the United States, Europe, and endemic areas. New molecular tools have helped overcome challenges posed by the slow growth and inability of M. leprae to grow in vitro.
Since 1978, NIAID has been supporting contracts for the propagation of M. leprae in armadillos to derive sizable quantities of the bacterium, its DNA, and antigens for researchers working throughout the world. The armadillo facility is located at the National Hansen’s Disease Program Laboratories (NHDP), Baton Rouge, LA and the M. leprae research reagents are being developed at Colorado State University, Fort Collins. As part of these NIAID- funded contracts, investigators at NHDP are developing the armadillo as a research animal model for human leprosy and investigators at Colorado State University are also developing improved skin test antigens to detect leprosy. Trials to determine the safety of new skin test antigens were initially conducted in volunteers in the United States and are now being done at the Anandaban Hospital in Nepal to determine the utility of a skin test for epidemiologic surveillance and diagnosis in leprosy-endemic regions.
Priorities for research in leprosy today include new immunological tests for early detection of leprosy before nerve damage occurs, and genetic probes for molecular epidemiology. The goals are to provide evidence on reservoirs of infection, routes of transmission, and incubation periods in order to allow prophylactic interventions and, ultimately, eradication of leprosy. There is still a case for vaccine development in light of the inability of MDT, despite its treatment success, to substantially diminish the emergence of new cases.
NIAID has been supporting leprosy research, both in the United States and throughout the world for many years and continues to fund major research projects on the disease.
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