D. Widasmara, I. Agusni, A. Turchan
Early diagnosis of nerve damage in leprosy is quite important for preventing the deformities. With an aim to find a good marker we have investigated Krox-20 as early peripheral nerve damage indicator in leprosy. Ambulatory patients of Kediri Leprosy Hospital, Malang, Indonesia have been studied. Degree of disability was measured based on WHO's criteria. Immunohistochemistry was used to study the expression of Krox-20 on Schwann cells on nerve twigs in skin biopsies from leprosy cases. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine cut off value. Of all 79 leprosy patients studied, 36 patiens had degree of disability 0, and 43 patients had degree of disability 1. Analysis of ROC curve shown that cut off value for Krox-20, was 8 and the cases in whom degree of disability was 0 (zero) had significantly higher mean values than those with degree of disability 1 (mean: 12.56 vs 4.24 (p<0.05)). Krox-20 appears to be a potentially good biomarker to identify early peripheral nerve damage in leprosy. © Hind Kusht Nivaran Sangh, New Delhi.
Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Faculty of medicine, Brawijaya University, Saiful Anwar General Hospital, Malang, Indonesia; Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Faculty of medicine Airlangga University, Soetomo General Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia; Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine Airlangga University, Soetomo General Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia
