Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0021051 (immunodeficiency)
71,517 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Reactive astrocytosis is a well-documented feature of HIV encephalitis (HIVE), but it is unclear whether restricted infection of astrocytes contributes to this phenomenon. In addition, the part played by reactive and/or infected astrocytes in AIDS-related dementia is not fully understood. In this study of patients at different stages of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, who had been treated at most with one antiretroviral drug, reactive astrocytes were identified by immunopositivity for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and infected astrocytes by positivity for HIV Nef protein. Results were compared for drug-using AIDS patients with (n=9) and without (n=7) HIVE, for presymptomatic HIV-positive drug users (n=12) and for control HIV-negative subjects (n=20), including a group who used drugs (n=10). GFAP-reactive astrocytes in both grey and white matter were significantly more numerous in HIVE subjects than in each of the other groups but did not correlate with viral load. Nef-positive astrocytes were confined to HIVE cases and to white matter, but were numerous in only one subject who was treatment-naive. Nef-positive microglia were identified in all HIVE cases and in occasional AIDS and presymptomatic subjects who did not have HIVE. The results suggest that astrocytes may form an additional viral reservoir in late HIV infection and may contribute to HIVE. However, the number of GFAP-positive astrocytes was neither increased in pre-AIDS nor in drug abuse, in contrast with microglia which we have shown previously to be up-regulated in both states.
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PMID:Relationship of Nef-positive and GFAP-reactive astrocytes to drug use in early and late HIV infection. 1288 98

We quantified putamen and prefrontal cortex metabolites in macaques with simian immunodeficiency virus infection and searched for virological and histological correlates. Fourteen asymptomatic macaques infected since 8-78 months (median: 38) were compared with eight uninfected ones. Absolute concentrations of acetate, alanine, aspartate, choline, creatine, GABA, glutamate, glutamine, lactate, myo-inositol, N-acetylaspartate, taurine and valine were determined by ex vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Glutamate concentration in the CSF was determined by HPLC. Gliosis was assessed by glial fibrillary acidic protein and CD68 immunohistochemistry. Glutamate concentration was slightly increased in the prefrontal cortex (19%, p = 0.0152, t-test) and putamen (13%, p = 0.0354, t-test) of the infected macaques, and was unaffected in the CSF. Myo-inositol concentration was increased in the prefrontal cortex only (27%, p = 0.0136). The concentrations of glutamate and myo-inositol in the prefrontal cortex were higher in the animals with marked or intense microgliosis (p = 0.0114). The other studied metabolites, including N-acetylaspartate, were not altered. Glutamate concentration may thus increase in the cerebral parenchyma in asymptomatic animals, but is not accompanied by a detectable decrease in N-acetylaspartate concentration (neuronal dysfunction). Thus, there are probably compensatory mechanisms that may limit glutamate increase and/or counterbalance its effects.
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PMID:Up-regulation of glutamate concentration in the putamen and in the prefrontal cortex of asymptomatic SIVmac251-infected macaques without major brain involvement. 1475 14

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), caused by the human polyomavirus JC (JCV), is an opportunistic infection of the central nervous system (CNS), the histopathological diagnosis of which can be made by routine staining. Very low copy numbers of JCV nucleic acid can be detected in paraffin sections by the specific and highly sensitive in situ polymerase chain reaction (in situ PCR). The authors evaluated JCV infection in 12 acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients with PML by comparison of hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, in situ hybridization (ISH), and in situ PCR. Phenotype of infected cells was determined by immunohistochemistry with antibodies against glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) or cluster of differentiation 68 (CD68), focusing on cells containing low JC viral copy numbers, and on cell types that are normally not associated with papovavirus infection. The number of detectable JCV-positive oligodendrocytes increased markedly upon PCR amplification and hitherto unknown oligodendrocytic staining patterns were discernible: JCV DNA was detectable in both nucleus and cytoplasm, in cytoplasm only, and as ghost-cell silhouettes appearing as a membranous "rim" of staining product in some cells. The authors suggest that the staining patterns correspond to different stages of the viral replication cycle. Some human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-type giant cells (HIV-GCs) were shown to contain JCV DNA, thus probably revealing a double infection. Macrophages and HIV-GCs showed staining in the cytoplasm and the nuclei, indicating that they not only may phagocytize JCV particles but may also be actively infected. CD68-positive GCs were occasionally noted to contain a complete JCV DNA-positive nucleus in their center, and were accordingly called JCV-type giant cells (JCV-GCs). Rarely, JCV DNA signals were noted in vascular endothelium. No JCV infection was detectable in lymphocytes, neurons, or in brain tissue of JCV-negative age-matched controls. The authors report new findings concerning inter- and intracellular JCV infection patterns in PML, possibly shedding new light on JCV susceptibility of different cell types in the brain of AIDS patients with PML.
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PMID:New JC virus infection patterns by in situ polymerase chain reaction in brains of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome patients with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. 1498 23

Virus infection of the central nervous system (CNS) often results in chemokine upregulation. Although often associated with lymphocyte recruitment, increased chemokine expression is also associated with non-lymphocyte-mediated CNS disease. In these instances, the effect of chemokine upregulation on neurological disease is unclear. In vitro, several chemokines including monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1) protect neurons from apoptosis. Therefore, in vivo, chemokine upregulation may be a protective host response to CNS damage. Alternatively, chemokines may contribute to pathogenesis by stimulating intrinsic brain cells or recruiting macrophages to the brain. To investigate these possibilities, we studied a neurovirulent retrovirus, Fr98, that induces severe non-lymphocyte-mediated neurological disease and causes the upregulation of several chemokines that bind to chemokine receptors CCR2 and CCR5. Knockout mice deficient in CCR2 had reduced susceptibility to Fr98 pathogenesis, with significantly fewer mice developing clinical disease than did wild-type controls. In contrast, no reduction in Fr98-induced disease was observed in CCR5 knockout mice. Thus, signaling through CCR2, but not CCR5, plays an important role in Fr98-mediated pathogenesis. Three ligands for CCR2 (MCP-1, MCP-3, and MCP-5) were upregulated during Fr98 infection of the brain. Antibody-blocking experiments demonstrated that MCP-1 was important for retrovirus-induced neurological disease. In situ hybridization analysis revealed that MCP-1 was expressed by glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive astrocytes. Thus, astrocytes, previously not thought to play an effector role in the disease process were found to contribute to pathogenesis through the production of MCP-1. This study also demonstrates that chemokines can mediate pathogenesis in the CNS in the absence of lymphocytic infiltrate and gives credence to the hypothesis that chemokine upregulation is a mechanism by which retroviruses such as human immunodeficiency virus induce neurological damage.
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PMID:MCP-1 and CCR2 contribute to non-lymphocyte-mediated brain disease induced by Fr98 polytropic retrovirus infection in mice: role for astrocytes in retroviral neuropathogenesis. 1516 38

Increased central nervous system (CNS) levels of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 [CC chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) in the systematic nomenclature] have been reported in chronic neurological diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus type 1-associated dementia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and multiple sclerosis. However, a pathogenic role for CCL2 has not been confirmed, and there is no established model for the effects of chronic CCL2 expression on resident and recruited CNS cells. We report that aged (>6 months) transgenic (tg) mice expressing CCL2 under the control of the human glial fibrillary acidic protein promoter (huGFAP-CCL2hi tg+ mice) manifested encephalopathy with mild perivascular leukocyte infiltration, impaired blood brain barrier function, and increased CD45-immunoreactive microglia, which had morphologic features of activation. huGFAP-CCL2hi tg+ mice lacking CC chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) were normal, showing that chemokine action via CCR2 was required. Studies of cortical slice preparations using video confocal microscopy showed that microglia in the CNS of huGFAP-CCL2hi tg+ mice were defective in expressing amoeboid morphology. Treatment with mutant CCL2 peptides, a receptor antagonist and an obligate monomer, also suppressed morphological transformation in this assay, indicating a critical role for CCL2 in microglial activation and suggesting that chronic CCL2 exposure desensitized CCR2 on microglia, which in the CNS of huGFAP-CCL2hi tg+ mice, did not up-regulate cell-surface expression of major histocompatibility complex class II, CD11b, CD11c, or CD40, in contrast to recruited perivascular macrophages that expressed enhanced levels of these markers. These results indicate that huGFAP-CCL2hi tg+ mice provide a useful model to study how chronic CNS expression of CCL2 alters microglial function and CNS physiology.
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PMID:Chronic expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in the central nervous system causes delayed encephalopathy and impaired microglial function in mice. 1585 90

Increased expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) represents astroglial activation and gliosis during neurodegeneration. However, the molecular mechanism behind increased expression of GFAP in astrocytes is poorly understood. The present study was undertaken to explore the role of nitric oxide (NO) in the expression of GFAP. Bacterial lipopolysachharides (LPSs) induced the production of NO and the expression of GFAP in mouse primary astrocytes. Either a scavenger of NO [2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (PTIO)] or an inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide synthase [l-N6-(I-iminoethyl)-lysine hydrochloride] blocked this induction of GFAP expression. Similarly, other inducers of NO production such as interferon-gamma, interleukin-1beta, human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp120, fibrillar amyloid beta peptides, and double-stranded RNA (polyinosinic-polycytidilic acid) also induced the expression of GFAP through NO. The role of NO in the expression of GFAP was supported further by increased expression of GFAP by S-nitroso glutathione (GSNO), an NO donor. Interestingly, inhibition of nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) suppressed LPS- but not GSNO-induced expression of GFAP, suggesting that NO does not require NF-kappaB to induce GFAP and that NF-kappaB functions upstream of NO production. However, inhibition of LPS- and GSNO-induced expression of GFAP either by NS-2028 [a specific inhibitor of guanylate cyclase (GC)] or by KT5823 [a specific inhibitor of cGMP-activated protein kinase (PKG)], and induction of GFAP expression by either 8-Br cGMP (a cell-permeable cGMP analog) or MY-5445 (a specific inhibitor of cGMP phosphodiesterase) suggests that NO induces GFAP via GC-cGMP-PKG. This study illustrates a novel biological role of NO in regulating the expression of GFAP in astrocytes through the GC-cGMP-PKG pathway that may participate in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders.
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PMID:Induction of glial fibrillary acidic protein expression in astrocytes by nitric oxide. 1667 68

The Vif protein of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) has been shown to interact with members of the APOBEC family of cytidine deaminases, particularly APOBEC3G/F. In this study, we isolated RNA from 12 regions of the brain from two pigtailed macaques that were exsanguinated and perfused with saline. Our results indicate that APOBEC3G was detected in all regions of the brain analyzed. Immunoblot analysis using lysates prepared from these same regions of the brain and a monoclonal antibody to APOBEC3G confirmed the RT-PCR findings. To determine which cell types express APOBEC3G, immunohistochemical studies were performed using this monoclonal antibody on whole brain sections. Our results clearly show that the pyramidal neurons within the gray matter of cerebral and cerebellar cortices express APOBEC3G. However, APOBEC3G expression in the pyramidal neurons appeared to be nuclear or associated with nuclei. In contrast to our findings in the cerebral cortex, immunohistochemical analysis of the spleen and kidney tissues revealed that APOBEC3G expression in the cells of these tissues was predominantly cytoplasmic. We further investigated the expression of APOBEC3G in astrocytes. Immunohistochemical staining of serial sections was performed using antibodies to glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and APOBEC3G. As expected, the cortical and cerebellar white matter showed extensive immunostaining of astrocytes with the antibody against GFAP but a lack of reactivity to the antibody to APOBEC3G. Additionally, Immunoblot analysis of lysates prepared from primary human fetal astrocytes revealed a lack of APOBEC3G expression. Taken together, these results indicate that APOBEC3G expression is restricted to neurons in the brain and that astrocytes and microglia probably do not express this protein or express it at levels undetectable by immunohistochemistry. These finding have implications for the brain as a potential reservoir for Vif-defective viruses.
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PMID:APOBEC3G expression is restricted to neurons in the brains of pigtailed macaques. 1679 29

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated sensory neuropathy (SN) is the most common neurological complication of HIV infection in the current highly active antiretroviral therapy era. The painful sensory neuropathy is associated with the use of dideoxynucleoside antiretrovirals, and its development limits the choice of antiretroviral drugs in affected patients. There are presently no effective therapies for HIV-SN, and moreover there has been no robust animal model of HIV-SN in which candidate therapeutic agents can be tested. In this paper, we show that we have established a rodent model of HIV-SN by oral administration of a dideoxynucleoside drug, didanosine, to transgenic mice expressing the HIV coat protein gp120 under a GFAP promoter. The neuropathy in these rodents is characterized by distal degeneration of unmyelinated sensory axons, similar to the "dying back" pattern of C-fiber loss seen in patients with HIV-SN. This model will be useful in examining mechanisms of distal axonal degeneration and testing potential neuroprotective compounds that may prevent development of the sensory neuropathy.
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PMID:Establishment of a rodent model of HIV-associated sensory neuropathy. 1702 Nov 85

The human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) affects the central nervous system (CNS) in approximately 30% of infected individuals and basal ganglia structures seem to be most affected. The HIV-1-transactivating protein, Tat, has been suggested to be pathogenically relevant in HIV-1-induced neuronal injury. The abuse of methamphetamine (METH), which is great among this patient population, also affects the basal ganglia, causing degeneration of dopaminergic terminals. In previous studies, we demonstrated that coexposure to these two toxins caused a synergistic loss of striatal dopamine and binding to the dopamine transporter (DAT), suggesting a loss of dopamine terminals. Because the loss of dopamine and DAT, however, do not necessarily reflect dopamine terminal degeneration, we have used silver staining and TH immunohistochemistry to further examine this issue. We have also examined the glial reaction using GFAP as a marker of astrocyte activation and OX-42 as a marker of activated microglia. Lastly, we have begun to explore the mechanism of synergy by investigating the role that the cytokine TNF-alpha might play in Tat + METH synergy. Our data indicate that the synergistic loss of dopamine is likely the result of dopamine terminal degeneration. This injury is not a direct result of the number of activated glia but does involve TNF-alpha.
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PMID:Human immunodeficiency virus-1 protein tat and methamphetamine interactions. 1710 16

Existing data concerning the role of the delta-chemokine fractalkine (CX3CL1) and its receptor (CX3CR1) in lentivirus-induced encephalitis are limited and controversial. We explored, by quantitative in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, the cell-specific changes of CX3CL1 and CX3CR1 in rhesus macaque brain during simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection and antiretroviral treatment. Neuronal expression of CX3CL1 was significantly reduced in cortex and striatum of AIDS-diseased monkeys as compared with uninfected and asymptomatic SIV-infected monkeys. CX3CL1 mRNA was increased in some endothelial cells and newly induced in astrocytes and macrophages focally in areas of SIV burden and inflammatory infiltrates. In most CX3CL1-positive astrocytes and macrophages, the transcription factor NF-kappaB was translocated to the nucleus. CX3CR1 was upregulated in scattered, nodule, and giant cell-forming microglia/macrophages and mononuclear infiltrates close to CX3CL1-induced cells in the brain. Treatment of AIDS monkeys with the central nervous system-permeant 6-chloro-2',3'-dideoxyguanosine fully reversed SIV burden, productive inflammation, nuclear NF-kappaB translocation as well as focal induction of CX3CL1 in astrocytes and macrophages and downregulation in neurons. In contrast, diffuse CX3CR1-positive microgliosis and GFAP-positive astrogliosis were partially reversed by 6-chloro-2',3'-dideoxyguanosine. Thus, focally induced CX3CL1 may be a target for therapeutic intervention to limit ongoing inflammatory infiltration into brain in lentivirus infection.
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PMID:Fractalkine expression in the rhesus monkey brain during lentivirus infection and its control by 6-chloro-2',3'-dideoxyguanosine. 1714 91


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