Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0014070 (encephalomyelitis)
13,017 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an autoimmune, demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system induced in susceptible animals as a model for the human disease multiple sclerosis. Antibodies against the leukocyte adhesion molecule alpha4 integrin have been shown to prevent and reverse acute and chronic EAE of the guinea pig. The results presented in this paper implicate apoptosis as the mechanism of reversal of EAE following treatment with anti-alpha4 integrin antibody. Apoptotic cells were observed in the central nervous system (CNS) throughout chronic-progressive EAE of the guinea pig in the absence of clinical recovery. Many of the apoptotic cells were identified as T cells using immunohistochemistry. Similarly, apoptotic cells were present in the CNS of animals during anti-alpha4 integrin-mediated recovery from acute and chronic disease. Therefore, anti-alpha4 integrin-mediated recovery from EAE is due to the prevention of the influx of new inflammatory cells into the CNS that are required to replace those undergoing apoptosis.
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PMID:Apoptotic cells are present in the CNS throughout acute and chronic-progressive EAE in the absence of clinical recovery. 963 Feb 39

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in the common marmoset, a nonhuman primate species (Callithrix jacchus), is a new model for multiple sclerosis. Given the close immunological relationship between marmosets and humans, it is an attractive model for investigating immunopathological pathways relevant to multiple sclerosis and to evaluate new treatments for the disease. Unlike in the originally documented model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis induced without the use of Bordetella pertussis led to a chronic disease of moderate severity. The clinical course of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in the present model was mainly chronic and progressive, but periods of incomplete remission did occur. At the chronic stage of the disease, actively demyelinating lesions were found together with inactive demyelinated and remyelinated (shadow) plaques. Before immunization and during clinically active experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, T1- and T2-weighted magnetic resonance brain images were obtained. Correlation of the data from the magnetic resonance images and the neuropathology analysis revealed that the hyperintense regions in T2-weighted images represented both active and inactive remyelinating lesions. Quantification showed that the number of lesions in T2-weighted magnetic resonance images equalled those found by pathological examination, and thus T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging can be used to discern the total lesion load. Extravasation of gadolinium-diethylenetriamine-penta-acetic acid (triple dose) was found only in lesions, which by histopathology were shown to be engaged in the process of active demyelination.
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PMID:Histopathological characterization of magnetic resonance imaging-detectable brain white matter lesions in a primate model of multiple sclerosis: a correlative study in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). 970 23

Type I diabetes mellitus is a chronic disorder that results from autoimmune destruction of the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cell. The non-obese diabetic mouse is a model of the human autoimmune disease Type I diabetes [1-3]. We have previously shown that ingested type 1 interferon inhibits chronic relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and the adoptive transfer of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelites by T cells, and decreases both antigen-specific and mitogen-induced pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion in this disorder. We therefore tried to determine whether ingested murine interferon alpha inhibits insulinitis and suppresses Type I diabetes mellitus in non-obese diabetic mice. Murine interferon alpha, given daily, decreased islet inflammation and suppressed diabetes. It increased the concanavalin A and ionomycin plus myristic acid palmitic ester-induced production of interleukin 4 and 10 and interferon gamma-secretion in spleen cells from treated mice. Adoptive transfer of unstimulated splenocytes secreting interleukin 4 and interleukin 10 from fed interferon alpha donors suppressed spontaneous diabetes mellitus in recipients. The protective effect of adoptively transferred unstimulated splenocytes shows the presence of ingested interferon alpha-activated regulatory splenic cell populations that may work via increased interleukin 4 or interleukin 10 production. Ingested interferon alpha administered during vulnerable periods in at-risk populations may potentially provide a continuous, convenient, non-toxic and effective treatment for Type I diabetes.
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PMID:Ingested interferon alpha suppresses type I diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice. 1009 98

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis viruses are picornaviruses that can infect the central nervous system. The DA strain produces an acute polioencephalomyelitis followed by a chronic demyelinating disease in its natural host, the mouse. The ability of DA virus to induce a demyelinating disease renders this virus infection a model for human demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Here we describe the generation and characterization of DA virus mutants that contain specific mutations in the viral capsid protein VP1 at sites believed to be important contact regions for the cellular receptor(s). A mutant virus with a threonine-to-aspartate (T81D) substitution in VP1 loop I adjacent to the putative virus receptor binding site exhibited a large-plaque phenotype but had a slower replication cycle in vitro. When this mutant virus was injected into susceptible mice, an altered tropism was seen during the acute stage of the disease and the chronic demyelinating disease was not produced. A virus with a threonine-to-valine substitution (T81V) did not cause any changes in the pattern or extent of disease seen in mice, whereas a virus with a tryptophan substitution at this position (T81W) produced a similar acute disease but was attenuated for the development of the chronic disease. A change in amino acids in a hydrophobic patch located in the wall of the pit, VP1 position 91, to a hydrophilic threonine (V91T) resulted in a profound attenuation of the acute and chronic disease without persistence of virus. This report illustrates the importance of the loop I of VP1 and a site in the wall of the pit in pathogenesis and that amino acid substitutions at these sites result in altered virus-host interactions.
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PMID:Theiler's viruses with mutations in loop I of VP1 lead to altered tropism and pathogenesis. 1007 29

The role of extracellular proteolysis in inflammatory demyelination, originally hypothesized as a mechanism for myelin degradation, is increasingly recognized as a pathogenetic step and as a target for therapy in human demyelinating disease. The activation of ubiquitous plasminogen by urokinase (u-PA) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA), which is associated with various neuropathologies, including multiple sclerosis (MS), is the key initiator of the activation cascade of the four classes of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs): collagenases, stromelysins, membrane-type metalloproteinases and gelatinases. Spatiotemporal protein and mRNA expression of gelatinase B (MMP-9) and matrilysin (MMP-7) have been documented respectively in MS lesions and in the central nervous system (CNS) of animals developing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). A close interaction between disease-promoting cytokines and extracellularly acting proteases is deduced from in vitro experiments. Cytokines regulate the balance between the proteases and their respective specific inhibitors at the transcriptional level, while proteolysis is a reciprocal mechanism to enhance (by activation) or downmodulate (by degradation) the specific activities of cytokines. In acute inflammation the contribution of chemokines is hierarchically organised, interleukin-8 (IL-8) and related CXC-chemokines inducing a rapid influx of neutrophils in the acute lesions and an instantaneous exocytosis of gelatinase B granules. This results in sudden and extensive damage to the CNS. In chronic disease involving autoimmune processes CC-chemokines that act mainly on mononuclear cell types appear to be more strictly regulated. As MMPs modify matrix components, promoting extravasation of lymphocytes and monocytes/macrophages and have the potential to generate encephalitogenic peptides from myelin basic protein, novel treatments for demyelinating diseases may be predicted by specific inhibition of these enzymes. Here we review plasminogen activators and the MMP family, in the context of their role in CNS inflammation and demyelination and highlight studies in which intervention in these protease cascades are and may be used to treat demyelinating diseases.
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PMID:Plasminogen activators and matrix metalloproteases, mediators of extracellular proteolysis in inflammatory demyelination of the central nervous system. 1037 31

Melioidosis was first described in Australia in an outbreak in sheep in 1949 in north Queensland (22 degrees S). Human melioidosis was first described from Townsville (19 degrees S) in 1950. Melioidosis is hyperendemic in the Top End of the Northern Territory (NT) and as in parts of northeastern Thailand it is the commonest cause of fatal community-acquired septicemic pneumonia. In the 9 years since 1989 the prospective NT melioidosis study at Royal Darwin Hospital (12 degrees S) has documented 206 culture confirmed cases of melioidosis, with an average annual incidence of 16.5/100,000. Melioidosis is also seen in the north of Western Australia and north Queensland, including the Torres Strait Islands, but is uncommon in adjacent Papua New Guinea. Serological studies suggest that infection is rare in the Port Moresby region, but there is emerging evidence of melioidosis from Western Province. The NT study has documented inoculating events in 52 (25%) of cases, with an incubation period of 1-21 days (mean 9 days); 84% of cases had acute disease from presumed recent acquisition and 13% had chronic disease (sick, > 2 months). In 4% there was evidence of possible reactivation from a latent focus; 28 of 153 (18%) males had prostatic abscesses. The overall mortality was 21% (43 cases), with a mortality rate in septicemic cases (95) of 39% and in non-septicemic cases (103) of 4%. Pneumonia was the commonest presentation in both groups and, in addition, eight patients (two deaths) presented with melioidosis encephalomyelitis. Melioidosis clusters in temperate Australia are attributed to animals imported from the north. Molecular typing of Burkholderia pseudomallei isolates from temperate southwest Western Australia showed clonality over 25 years. In this outbreak and in studies from the NT, some soil isolates are molecularly identical to epidemiologically related animal and human isolates. Molecular typing has implicated the water supply in two clonal outbreaks in remote aboriginal communities in northern Australia. Further prospective collaborative studies are required to evaluate whether there are truly regional differences in clinical features of melioidosis and to better understand how B. pseudomallei is acquired from the environment.
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PMID:The epidemiology of melioidosis in Australia and Papua New Guinea. 1067 39

The mechanisms of chronic disease and recovery from relapses in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis, are unknown. Deletion of myelin-specific lymphocytes by apoptosis may play a role in termination of the inflammatory response. One pathway of apoptosis is the passive cell death or "cell death by neglect" pathway, which is under the control of the Bcl family of genes. To investigate the role of passive cell death pathway in EAE, we used mice with transgenic expression of the long form of the bcl-x gene (Bcl-x(L)) targeted to the T-cell lineage. We found that mice transgenic for Bcl-x(L) have an earlier onset and a more chronic form of EAE induced by myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) peptide 35-55 compared with wild-type littermate mice. This was not due to an expanded autoreactive cell repertoire. Primed peripheral lymphocytes from Bcl-x(L) transgenic mice showed increased proliferation and cytokine production to MOG peptide in vitro compared with lymphocytes from wild-type animals. Immunohistologic studies demonstrated increased cellular infiltrates, immunoglobulin precipitation, and demyelination in the Bcl-x(L) transgenic central nervous system (CNS) compared with controls. There was also a decreased number of apoptotic cells in the CNS of Bcl-x(L) transgenic mice when compared with littermates at all time points tested. This is the first report of an autoimmune disease model in Bcl-x(L) transgenic mice. Our data indicate that the passive cell death pathway is important in the pathogenesis of chronic EAE. These findings have implications for understanding the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases.
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PMID:Role of passive T-cell death in chronic experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. 1077 55

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) is a natural mouse pathogen which causes a lifelong persistent infection of the central nervous system (CNS) accompanied by T-cell-mediated myelin destruction leading to chronic, progressive hind limb paralysis. TMEV-induced demyelinating disease (TMEV-IDD) is considered to be a highly relevant animal model for the human autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS), which is thought to be initiated as a secondary consequence of a virus infection. Although TMEV-IDD is initiated by virus-specific CD4(+) T cells targeting CNS-persistent virus, CD4(+) T-cell responses against self myelin protein epitopes activated via epitope spreading contribute to chronic disease pathogenesis. We thus examined the ability of antibodies directed against B7 costimulatory molecules to regulate this chronic virus-induced immunopathologic process. Contrary to previous studies showing that blockade of B7-CD28 costimulatory interactions inhibit the initiation of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, treatment of SJL mice at the time of TMEV infection with murine CTLA-4 immunoglobulin or a combination of anti-B7-1 and anti-B7-2 antibodies significantly enhanced clinical disease severity. Costimulatory blockade inhibited early TMEV-specific T-cell and antibody responses critical in clearing peripheral virus infection. The inhibition of virus-specific immune responses led to significantly increased CNS viral titers resulting in increased damage to myelin-producing oligodendrocytes. Following clearance of the costimulatory antagonists, epitope spreading to myelin epitopes was accelerated as a result of the increased availability of myelin epitopes leading to a more severe chronic disease course. Our results raise concern about the potential use of B7-CD28 costimulatory blockade to treat human autoimmune diseases potentially associated with acute or persistent virus infections.
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PMID:CD28 costimulatory blockade exacerbates disease severity and accelerates epitope spreading in a virus-induced autoimmune disease. 1095 34

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV)-induced demyelinating disease is a chronic-progressive, immune-mediated CNS demyelinating disease and a relevant model of multiple sclerosis. Myelin destruction is initiated by TMEV-specific CD4(+) T cells targeting persistently infected CNS-resident APCs leading to activation of myelin epitope-specific CD4(+) T cells via epitope spreading. We examined the temporal development of virus- and myelin-specific T cell responses and acquisition of virus and myelin epitopes by CNS-resident APCs during the chronic disease course. CD4(+) T cell responses to virus epitopes arise within 1 wk after infection and persist over a >300-day period. In contrast, myelin-specific T cell responses are first apparent approximately 50-60 days postinfection, appear in an ordered progression associated with their relative encephalitogenic dominance, and also persist. Consistent with disease initiation by virus-specific CD4(+) T cells, CNS mononuclear cells from TMEV-infected SJL mice endogenously process and present virus epitopes throughout the disease course, while myelin epitopes are presented only after initiation of myelin damage (>50-60 days postinfection). Activated F4/80(+) APCs expressing high levels of MHC class II and B7 costimulatory molecules and ingested myelin debris chronically accumulate in the CNS. These results suggest a process of autoimmune induction in which virus-specific T cell-mediated bystander myelin destruction leads to the recruitment and activation of infiltrating and CNS-resident APCs that process and present endogenous myelin epitopes to autoreactive T cells in a hierarchical order.
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PMID:Temporal development of autoreactive Th1 responses and endogenous presentation of self myelin epitopes by central nervous system-resident APCs in Theiler's virus-infected mice. 1104 65

Recombinant proteins to the LP, VP1, VP2, VP3, VP4, 2A, 2B, 2C, 3A, and 3D genes of Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) were generated and antibodies were produced against them for use in analysis of the TMEV epitopes responsible for eliciting the antibody responses observed during acute and chronic disease. Antibodies against recombinant VP1, VP2, and VP3 recognized the corresponding proteins from purified TMEV particles. In immunohistochemical analysis, antibodies against recombinant capsid (VP1, VP2, and VP3), and non-capsid (2A, 2C, 3A) proteins were reactive with PO-2D cells (astrocytes) infected with TMEV in vitro and with brain tissues of acutely infected mice. Antibodies against VP4, 2B, and 3D antigens were not reactive with corresponding viral proteins in infected astrocytes cells or brain tissues, but they reacted with TMEV precursor proteins produced during the early viral replication phase. Sera from SJL/J mice infected with TMEV acutely (14 days) and chronically (45 days) reacted with VP1, VP2, VP4, 2A, and 2C proteins. In an in vitro assay for neutralization, only anti-VP1 antibodies neutralized TMEV infection. These findings suggest that both capsid and non-capsid proteins of TMEV play a role in the immunopathology of the TMEV disease in the central nervous system.
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PMID:Antigens to viral capsid and non-capsid proteins are present in brain tissues and antibodies in sera of Theiler's virus-infected mice. 1116 81


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