Another target for interferon?

Another target for interferon?

Preliminary experiments with gamma interferon indicate it may be useful in treating lepromatous leprosy, a form of Hansen's disease. While drugs that kill the leprosy bacterium are already available, drug-resistant strains have recently appeared.

There ar two major forms of the disease, lepromatous leprosy and tuberculoid leprosy. In tuberculoid leprosy, the bacteria infect the body and the body mounts an immune response. In lepromatous leprosy, the same bacteria are present but the body fails to recognize them and mount a response. The tuberculoid form is generally milder, and only a couple of years of treatment are needed. Treatment for lepromatous leprosy can last a decade or more, or for life.

Carl F. Nathan of Rockefeller University in New York City and researchers from several other institutions injected gamma interferon into leprosy skin sores of six patients. The interferon resulted in a local immune response against the bacteria where there had been none, they report in the July 3 NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE. "It looked as if we had converted that limited area from lepromatous to tuberculoid leprosy," Nathan says.

Because tuberculoid leprosy is easier to treat, the researchers suggest that gamma interferon could be useful therapeutically.