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Leprosy (also known as Hansen’s disease) may sound like an archaic term but unfortunately it is not a disease confined to the history books and is still prevalent in less developed parts of the world. It is a progressive bacterial infection and neglected tropical disease (NTD) which starts by attacking the nerves and if left untreated can cause severe disfigurement and disability.

Originally the only treatment for Leprosy sufferers was the herb chaulmoogra, which is only effective when injected and was reported to cause great discomfort for patients. In the 1940s, Sulfones became the primary treatment for the disease and though successful it wasn’t long until drug-resistant strains developed which rendered the medication ineffective. Then finally in the 1980s, a viable treatment was found. Multi-drug therapy has become the standard treatment for Leprosy today and works by blocking the progression of the disease.

Thanks to multi-drug therapy Leprosy is now a treatable condition, however in addition to the disease’s symptoms and possible complications it is also associated with an isolating stigma. There is a long history of sufferers being shunned from their communities, an attitude which is still common today.

Through awareness day’s like today there is the opportunity to encourage conversation and provide education on the facts of the disease which can go a long way in dispelling much of the negative and harmful connotations.

In light of World Leprosy day, we have rounded up some of the most highly recommended papers on this topic by our Faculty. If you like our recommendations, why not consider checking out F1000Prime? F1000Prime is our literature recommendation service, which has a peer-nominated global Faculty of more than 8,000 of the world’s leading biomedical scientists and clinicians. The Faculty select those articles which they think are particularly interesting and important, and write recommendations explaining their selection. From the numerical ratings awarded, we have created a unique system for quantifying the importance of individual articles.

Top 3 recommendations on Leprosy

“This exceptional study shows for the first time that a bacterium is capable of reprogramming differentiated cells and of changing the developmental commitment of these cells during infection.” – Pascale Cossart and Mélanie Hamon, Pasteur Institute, Paris.

“The authors discovered a mechanistic basis for thalidomide teratogenicity through the inhibition of the previously uncharacterized cullin-4A (CUL4A)-damaged DNA binding protein 1 (DDB1)-cereblon (CRBN) ubiquitin ligase. Their findings identified a novel pharmaceutical inhibitor of an E3 ubiquitin ligase.”  – Pengbo Zhou, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York and Jennifer Lee, New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, New York.  

“This article is an instructive review about the current role of nerve and skin biopsy in the management and diagnosis of peripheral neuropathies” – Andreas Steck, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV),  Switzerland and Cecília Vidal, University Hospital Antonio Pedro, Brazil

Current top 3 recommendations

Rankings are generated using the article recommended in F1000Prime during the preceding 30 days.

“This is a pragmatic, international trial, in which 3000 patients were randomized to either restrictive versus liberal fluid management.” – Ehab Farag, Cleveland Clinic, USA.

“This exciting paper shows that the Arabidopsis ABA PYL receptors are inactivated by phosphorylation to dampen stress responses and that the conserved TOR kinase is involved in this regulatory process. This provides a new and important link between the activation of growth by the TOR kinase and the repression of stress responses.” – Christian Meyer, INRA, France.

“In this very interesting work, Shiber et al. demonstrate that many complexes in the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae are assembled cotranslationally.” – Walid Houry, University of Toronto, Canada

Hidden Jewels

Hidden Jewels rankings only include articles published in specialist journals, recommended in F1000Prime during the preceding 30 days.

“This most interesting paper shows the direct reciprocal regulation of abscisic acid (ABA) and Target of Rapamycin (TOR) signaling in balancing plant growth under stressful and normal conditions.” – Sjef Smeekens, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, The Netherlands  

“This study revealed that FBCs can actively migrate to the wounded tissues and facilitate the clearances of debris in concert with hemocytes. In addition, FBCs can close the wound and release AMPs to prevent against infection.”- Y Peng Loh and Ashley Xiao, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, USA

“This study provides deep insight into the metabolic war between host macrophages and infecting Candida albicans. Much more than just pathogen growth is at stake because C. albicans exploits limitations of host metabolic reprogramming to induce macrophage death. The study is also an outstanding illustration of how one can move from expression profiling to the testing of a functional hypothesis.” – Aaron Mitchell and Katherine Lagree, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA