Antibodies to diverse lipids in the serum of patients with clinically cured leprosy and tuberculosis.

In this study we looked for the presence of antibodies to cardiolipin, cerebrosides, and whole lipids extracted from M. leprae, M. tuberculosis and M. habana, in the serum of patients with clinically cured lepromatous leprosy (sixteen) or tuberculosis (sixteen), 8 to 12 months after arresting the corresponding multi-drug therapy (MDT). Compared to healthy controls (sixteen), both leprosy and tuberculosis ex-patients had still significant levels of antibodies to the three mycobacterial lipids but no detectable levels of antibodies to cardiolipin or cerebroside lipids. Although leprosy and tuberculosis sera recognized the homologous mycobacterial lipids in a preferential fashion, all of them, on the average, reacted more strongly with the lipids of M. habana. This observation backs up, in a certain way, the proposition of using M. habana as a prospective vaccine for leprosy and tuberculosis.