However, mimicking epitopes responsible for immunogenicity has not been analyzed extensively in leprosy. may be employed as a biomarker to predict the inflammatory episodes of T1R. antigens in a lymphocyte transformation test (LTT)4. This may lead to a local decrease in bacillary weight and augmentation of T cell reactivity in the affected nerve leading to nerve damage5. Antigenic/molecular mimicry between host and pathogen has been suggested as a way to escape detection and destruction of the pathogen by host immunity6. Antigenic mimicry might be one of the reasons for escaping the immune surveillance of and its long period of incubation before the onset of the disease. The resemblance of epitopes may facilitate the survival of in the human hosts when the antigens are not recognized as nonself, a situation that seems to occur in lepromatous leprosy when the patients tissues are loaded with bacteria virtually without any protective immune response. On the other hand, antigens which mimic host antigens may induce an autoimmune reaction against the hosts own d-Atabrine dihydrochloride antigens. The antigenic molecular mimicry between pathogen and EPHB4 host may play a role in the pathogenesis of leprosy as well as it may be one of the reasons for d-Atabrine dihydrochloride immunological complications. Earlier, highest level of anti-keratin, anti-MBP and anti-myosin antibodies has been reported in T1R group of leprosy7C9. However, mimicking epitopes responsible for immunogenicity has not been studied extensively in leprosy. Hence, the present study was carried out to understand the immunological response to mimicking B and T cell epitopes across two different clinical spectra of leprosy and to elucidate their role in the induction of autoimmune response in T1R group of leprosy. Our main research question was to evaluate whether autoantibodies in the T1R group of leprosy produced because of mimicking epitopes of d-Atabrine dihydrochloride host protein/s and protein/s. Hence, the major objectives of this study were, firstly to evaluate antibody level against mimicking B cell d-Atabrine dihydrochloride epitopes across two groups, i.e., T1R and borderline leprosy patients without reaction (NR) for their humoral immune response to these mimicking epitopes and second of all to evaluate lymphocyte proliferation activity against the mimicking T cell epitopes in these groups to probe into their state of cell-mediated immune response. The healthy group was taken as the control variable group. Material and methods Recruitment of subjects This work was carried out after getting approval from your Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) of The Leprosy Mission Trust India, New Delhi (Dated June 24, 2013). Blood samples were obtained from leprosy patients and healthy controls after obtaining written informed consent at the outpatient department at The Leprosy Mission Community Hospital, Delhi. Sample collection protocols and all methods in the study were performed with rigid adherence to the guidelines and regulations of IEC, The Leprosy Mission Trust India (TLMTI), New Delhi and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi. Patients and healthy controls A total of 100 clinically diagnosed cases (based on cardinal indicators and bacteriological examination) consisting of 50 untreated leprosy patients in T1R and 50 untreated NR were recruited for the study. The inclusion criteria for patients were leprosy patients (NR and T1R) between ages of 18?years and 60?years, the patients below the age of 18?years and above 60?years were not included. Leprosy patients co-infected with other infections like dermatological infections, TB, HIV, Immune disorders, autoimmune diseases, and pregnant women were excluded from the study. Twenty-two nonoccupational healthy controls without any clinical history of leprosy, TB, and other dermatologic infections and other diseases were included in the study from non-endemic areas. Lymphocyte proliferation assay was performed with 10 healthy controls, 20 untreated NR, and 20 untreated T1R patients. The demographic characteristics and clinical data of patients are given as below (Table ?(Table11). Table 1 Demographic characteristics of leprosy patients and healthy controls. predicted by BCPREDS server 1.0 and host protein/s identified by ClustalW multiple sequence alignment server were identified and the linear peptide epitopes/ were synthesized commercially by Thermo-Scientific, USA. A total of eleven B cell mimicking epitopes of protein HSP65 ((comparable with the keratin of d-Atabrine dihydrochloride host) namely HSP1, HSP2, HSP3, HSP4, HSP5, HSP6, and HSP7; four mimicking B cell epitopes of keratin (comparable with HSP65 of and host protein/s were recognized by ClustalW multiple sequence alignment server. A total of nine T cell mimicking epitopes/linear peptides of protein 50S ribosomal protein and Lysyl tRNA synthetase of much like myelin basic protein.