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Detection of Mycobacterium leprae by Real-time PCR Targeting Mycobacterium leprae-Specific Repetitive Element Sequence  

Jin, Hyun-Woo (Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, College of Health Sciences, Yonsei University)
Wang, Hye-Young (Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, College of Health Sciences, Yonsei University)
Kim, Jong-Pill (Affiliated Hospital, Korean Leprosy Control Association)
Cho, Sang-Nae (Department of Microbiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine)
Lee, Hye-Young (Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, College of Health Sciences, Yonsei University)
Abstract
Mycobacterium leprae detection is difficult even with molecular biological techniques due to the low sensitivity of current methodologies. In this report, real-time PCR targeting the M. leprae-specific repetitive element (RLEP) sequence was developed as a new diagnostic tool and evaluated using clinical specimens. For this, M. leprae DNAs were extracted from skin biopsy specimens from 80 patients and analyzed by real-time PCR using TaqMan probe. Then, the detection efficiency of the real-time PCR was compared with that of standard PCR. In brief, the rate of positive detection by the standard PCR and real-time PCR was 32.50% and 66.25%, respectively. The results seemed to clearly show that the TaqMan real-time PCR developed in this study may be a useful tool for sensitive detection of M. leprae from clinical specimens.
Keywords
Mycobacterium leprae; Real-time PCR; Repetitive element sequence (RLEP);
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