Associação entre percentual de gordura corporal e IL-10 plasmática em indivíduos portadores de hanseníase de área endêmica Brasileira

Abstract

Leprosy is an infectious disease transmitted by Mycobacterium leprae, considered to be endemic in poorer regions, including Brazil. It is argued that the disease is more frequent in malnourished people. However, in Brazil, the change in the nutritional profile of the population may alter this hypothesis. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the body composition of infected individuals and whether their nutritional status is associated with serum cytokine concentration. The sample was composed of leprosy-infected individuals (n=19) and noninfected individuals (n=24). Anthropometric analysis was carried out to verify the nutritional status and the ELISA test to measure the concentration of cytokines present in the serum. Most of the study population was overweight. For the cytokine IL-10, an association with body fat mass was observed, showing that this cytokine is increased in infected individuals who have greater body fat mass, which may influence the immune response to the disease.