US EPA

8541150 

Journal Article 

The lepromatous macrophage defect as related to vaccine development in leprosy 

Skinsnes, OK 

1976 

44 

4 

485-490 

English 

If the primary defect lies in T cell clones in lepromatous leprosy and if the lepromatous macrophages do, indeed, process the ingested bacilli into adequately stimulating antigens, then it is difficult to see how either an attenuated live vaccine or a vaccine derived from fractionation of M. leprae can be effective. If the defect is of the nature of a complex deficiency in lymphocytes and macrophages and their interaction, then the probability of an effective classical vaccine also seems remote. A far more urgent need than the classical concept of a vaccine is the development of an understanding of the lepromatous defect which may lead to a determination of how to enable the defense mechanisms of the lepromatous patient to assist the chemotherapeutic agents now available.