An Attempt at Passive Transfer of Immunity to Leprosy Patients by Transfusion of Allogeneic Lymphocytes, Inactivated with Mitomycin C

Abstract

An attempt was made to repair cell-mediated immunity in 7 patients suffering from lepromatous leprosy and severe erythema nodosum leprosum by intravenous infusion of 400 million allogeneic blood lymphocytes on 3 occasions. The lymphocytes were obtained from lepromin and tuberculin-positive subjects and were inactivated in vitro by treatment with mitomycin C. Immunotherapy with inactivated lymphocytes only modified the severity of erythema nodosum leprosum, without altering other aspects of the disease.

Reversal Reaction in Patients with Lepromatous Leprosy after Transplantation of Human Fetal Thymic Grafts

“…However, unlike the adult blood lym phocytes, the grafted fetal thymic lymphoid cells were immunologically uncommitted, but they were capable of offering allogeneic resistance when grafted in a host [2], This allogeneic effect probably lysed the patients' macrophages, heavily loaded with M. leprae and reduced the antigenic load of these pa tients. This was then followed by the influx of lymphocytes and histologic reversion [18], Earlier, this capacity to enhance the immune system by the allogeneic effect had been used as a therapeutic measure in an ex perimental leukaemia system in guinea pigs [10].…”

“…lary and morphologic indices were studied [3]. In each case, the following tests were performed: tuberculin sensitivity with graded doses of old tuberculin; contact hypersensitivity with dinitrochlobenzene (DNCB); sensitivities to streptokinasestreptodornase (SK-SD) and early and late lepro min reactivities using 0.1 ml armadillo-derived lep romin (World Health Organization) [16,17,18].…”