Erythrocyte glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase isoenzyme phenotypes in leprosy.

Hemolysates from 50 cases of leprosy and five controls were studied for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) isoenzyme phenotypes by polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis using a miniaturized system. The cases were classified as lepromatous (24), borderline lepromatous (5), borderline tuberculoid (5), and tuberculoid (16) according to the Ridley-Jopling scale. All had been on treatment with dapsone for between two and 12 years. None of the cases showed deficiency of erythrocyte G-6-PD. All the cases and the controls showed the G-6-PD phenotype to be of the B+ variety. Therefore this genetic marker does not appear to be related to susceptibility to leprosy or to the clinical variety of the disease in our situation.