Leucocytic alkaline phosphatase activity, marker of evolution in leprosy?

Lepromatous leprosy is an interesting disease regarding macrophage function and the host's failure to control the disease. The hypothesis that impaired non-specific defences might have a role in leprosy has become increasingly plausible, with speculation that macrophages are unable to present leprous antigens to the immune system. As impaired phagocytosis has been implicated, the authors undertook a survey of the whole phagocyte population. They chose to study leucocytic alkaline phosphatase (LAP) activity because of the similarity between lepromatous leprosy and mucocutaneous candidiasis. This work shows a correlation between LAP activity and leprosy with a progressive decrease of the score from tuberculosis to lepromatous leprosy.