JAG1 and leprosy: Among the top eight candidate genes, JAG1 demonstrated the strongest inverse correlation with CD163 expression across the spectrum of leprosy lesions (r = -0.834, R2 = 0.6956, P<0.0001, T-lep lesions n = 10, L-lep lesions n = 6), with greater expression in T-lep vs. L-lep lesions (fold change 2.2, p<0.0002) (Fig 5B and 5C).