The role of nerve growth factor (NGF) in the pathogenesis of leprosy

Abstract

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by M. leprae with a primary lesion of the skin and peripheral nervous system. Currently, clinicians using bacterioscopic studies of scarification and skin biopsy mainly diagnose leprosy. However, the development and application of new diagnostic criteria, especially those associated with damage to nerve fibers, remains an urgent task of modern leprology. This review considers the important role of neurotrophic factor (nerve growth factor, NGF) in the pathogenesis of nervous system damage in leprosy and establishes the relationship between NGF levels and forms of the disease. The review includes data from foreign and domestic articles; the search was carried out using the “Scopus”, “PubMed”, “Web of Science”, “elIBRARY” databases.

Keywords

• leprosy
• mycobacterium leprae
• nerve growth factor
• neurotrophins
• schwann cells