RESUMO
Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae that affects the skin and nerves. The nerve damage in leprosy may be related to alterations in transcriptional factors, such as Krox-20, Oct-6, Sox-10. Thirty skin biopsies in leprosy patients and 15 non-leprosy skin biopsies were evaluated using RT-qPCR to assess Krox-20, Oct-6, and Sox-10 and these data was related with S-100 immunohistochemistry. Changes in gene expression were observed in the skin and dermal nerves of leprosy patients in Oct-6 and Sox-10. When comparing Oct-6 with S-100 IHC as diagnostic tests for leprosy, Oct-6 showed a sensitivity of 73.3%, and specificity of 100%, while S-100 IHC showed a sensitivity of 96.6% and specificity of 100%. Our data suggest Oct-6 could be an auxiliary biomarker specific to detecting changes in dermal nerves in leprosy and thus useful to health workers and pathologists with no expertise to observe nerve injuries in leprosy.