myelin-basic-protein and Measles

Topics: Animals; Antibody Formation; Astrocytes; Autoimmune Diseases; Coronaviridae Infections; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental; Epitopes; Immunity, Cellular; Measles; Myelin Basic Protein; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Time Factors

A total of 21 patients with postmeasles and 26 patients with postvaricella C.N.S. complications were studied. In both groups, males were predominant than females. The C.N.S. manifestations included disturbed level of consciousness, coma, seizures, motor deficits, ataxia and myoclonus. The sequelae were more frequent in postmeasles cases and ranged from behavioral abnormalities to motor deficits. C.S.F. examination showed that most of the cases demonstrated increase in the protein content (45-100mg) and pleocytosis. Myelin protein was detected in 8 samples and 6 samples of postmeasles and varicella C.S.F. out of 12 samples in Tested in each group. Specific virus IgG antibody was detected significantly in 8 paired C.S.F. samples of postvaricella group and only one sample of postmeasles out of 12 paired samples tested in each group. C-T. scan examination revealed that the most common finding was the brain oedema (13 in measles, and 21 in varicella group).

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Brain Diseases; Brain Edema; Chickenpox; Child; Female; Humans; Immunoglobulin A; Immunoglobulin G; Immunoglobulin M; Male; Measles; Myelin Basic Protein; Serum Albumin

The questions how a viral infection induces cellular autoimmune reactions (CMAI) and which components of both virus and auto-antigen play part in this process were addressed in our animal model of measles virus (MV)-induced CMAI against myelin basic protein (MBP) during subacute measles encephalitis (SAME). In an attempt to define whether cellular or humoral immune responses are involved in the occurrence of the autoimmune based disease process, Lewis rats were treated with different combinations of antibodies and T cells reactive with either MV and its structural proteins or MBP and MBP-peptides. The only treatment combination after which experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE)-like disease and pathology developed was when non-encephalitogenic T cells reactive against residues 69-81 of MBP were adoptively transferred into MV-infected Lewis rats. The results of the study show that T cells which are non-encephalitogenic in the normal central nervous tissue are capable of inducing an allergic encephalomyelitis in animals with a viral infection involving the brain.

Topics: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Antibodies, Viral; Autoantibodies; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental; Immunization, Passive; Lymphocyte Activation; Measles; Molecular Sequence Data; Myelin Basic Protein; Peptides; Rats; Rats, Inbred Lew; T-Lymphocytes

Intracerebral inoculation of weanling Lewis rats with measles virus led to the development of subacute measles encephalomyelitis (SAME) 4-8 weeks after infection. The disease is characterized pathologically by an intense inflammatory infiltration within both the white and grey matter of the central nervous system (CNS) without apparent demyelination. Both during and after SAME splenic lymphocytes from these animals could be restimulated in vitro to proliferate in the presence of myelin base protein (MBP). MBP-specific class II MHC-restricted T cell lines were isolated from this cell population. They were shown to exhibit no cross-reactivity with measles virus and to induce experimental allergic encephalitis (EAE) in naive syngeneic recipients following adoptive transfer. The clinical and histopathological signs of this T cell-mediated disease were identical to that seen in classical T cell-mediated EAE. A humoral immune response to MBP was only detected in a limited number of those rats with SAME. These results indicate that autoimmune reactions to brain antigen can arise during measles virus infection which may contribute to the pathogenesis of measles virus-associated encephalomyelitis.

Topics: Animals; Antibodies, Viral; Autoantibodies; Autoimmune Diseases; Encephalitis; Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental; Immunization, Passive; Lymphocyte Activation; Measles; Myelin Basic Protein; Rats; Rats, Inbred Lew; T-Lymphocytes

Post-infectious or post-vaccinal demyelinating encephalomyelitis and neuritis may be due to immunological cross-reactions evoked by specific viral antigenic determinants (epitopes) that are homologous to regions in the target myelins of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Such homologies have been found by computer searches in which decapeptides in two human myelin proteins were compared with proteins of viruses known to infect humans. These viruses include measles, Epstein-Barr, influenza A and B, and others that cause upper respiratory infections. Several regions identified in myelin basic protein and P2 protein can be related to experimental allergic encephalomyelitis or neuritis in laboratory animals.

Topics: Animals; Base Sequence; Chickens; Encephalomyelitis; Epitopes; Guinea Pigs; Haplorhini; Humans; Measles; Myelin Basic Protein; Myelin P2 Protein; Neuritis; Rabbits; Rats; Rats, Inbred Lew; Viral Proteins; Viral Vaccines

The loss of myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG) and myelin basic protein (MBP) was compared by quantitative immunocytochemistry in demyelinating lesions of measles encephalomyelitis (ME), multiple sclerosis (MS), and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). Serial sections from paraffin-embedded tissue were reacted with antisera for MAG and MBP, and areas of staining loss were compared morphometrically. Lesions in ME showed MAG loss equal to that of MBP, lesions of PML showed MAG loss greater than that of MBP, and MS lesions showed a mixture of patterns. These data demonstrate distinctive patterns of MAG and MBP loss in these three diseases.

Topics: Central Nervous System; Demyelinating Diseases; Encephalomyelitis; Humans; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Leukoencephalopathy, Progressive Multifocal; Measles; Multiple Sclerosis; Myelin Basic Protein; Myelin Proteins; Myelin Sheath; Myelin-Associated Glycoprotein; Nerve Fibers, Myelinated

We studied 19 patients with postinfectious encephalomyelitis complicating natural measles-virus infections, and our results support the hypothesis that this demyelinating disease has a pathogenesis similar to that of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. Early myelin destruction was demonstrated by the presence of myelin basic protein in cerebrospinal fluid, and lymphocyte proliferative responses to myelin basic protein were found in 8 of 17 patients tested. A lack of intrathecal synthesis of antibody against measles virus suggests that measles encephalomyelitis may not be dependent on virus replication within the central nervous system. Similar lymphoproliferative responses to myelin basic protein of lymphocytes from single patients with encephalomyelitis after rabies vaccine or after varicella or rubella virus infections suggest a common immune-mediated pathogenesis for the perivenular demyelinating disease that can follow the injection of neural tissues or infection by a variety of viruses.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Child; Child, Preschool; Encephalomyelitis; Female; Humans; Immunoglobulins; Infant; Lymphocyte Activation; Male; Measles; Myelin Basic Protein; Virus Replication

Measles encephalomyelitis appears to be an immune-mediated parainfectious disorder, but it is unclear whether viral invasion of brain is an obligate step in its development. Immunocytochemical methods were used to search for virus antigen in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded central nervous system (CNS) tissues from 10 patients with measles encephalomyelitis and 12 patients who had died of measles without CNS involvement. All the CNS tissues studied were viral antigen negative. Similarly fixed CNS tissues from all of 6 patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis were viral antigen positive and served as controls. The pattern of perivenular demyelination was also determined in 4 cases of measles encephalomyelitis using antibodies to myelin associated glycoprotein and myelin basic protein and a Luxol fast blue stain. Areas of demyelination in serial sections were quantitated, and no morphometrical differences were found among tissues stained with the three stains. The data suggest the lack of virus replication in the CNS during encephalomyelitis or fatal measles without CNS symptoms. The pattern of loss of myelin associated glycoprotein and myelin basic protein in regions of perivenular demyelination resembles that reported in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. This pattern of demyelination has been proposed to result from a primary attack on the myelin sheath rather than from direct involvement of the oligodendroglial cell.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Antigens, Viral; Brain; Child; Child, Preschool; Encephalomyelitis; Female; Humans; Male; Measles; Measles virus; Myelin Basic Protein; Myelin Proteins; Myelin Sheath; Myelin-Associated Glycoprotein

In measles encephalitis we: Confirmed the decrease in mitogen responses and have shown that it does not correlate with complications. Demonstrated that the 'immunosuppression' is not universal but may be an abnormality of immune regulation as shown by the response to measles virus and myelin basic protein and by an abnormality of suppressor cell activity in patients with measles. Have evidence that there is early demyelination, and a response to myelin basic protein in a large proportion of the patients, and a lack of evidence of direct virus invasion of the brain. These findings lead to our present hypothesis that measles virus infection, probably of lymphoid cells, leads to a breakdown of immune regulation. This lack of regulation may lead to dissemination and allow secondary infection. It may also lead to a break in tolerance leading to autoimmune demyelination, a regulation which as Patterson (1979) has said 'may effectively restrain our ever present capacity to react immunologically against our own nervous tissue'.

Topics: Adolescent; Antibodies, Viral; Brain; Child; Child, Preschool; Encephalitis; Humans; Infant; Lymphocyte Activation; Measles; Measles virus; Myelin Basic Protein

Topics: Adolescent; Child; Child, Preschool; Encephalitis; Humans; Immunoglobulin G; Infant; Lymphocytes; Measles; Myelin Basic Protein

A solid phase radioimmunoassay was used to detect antibodies to myelin basic protein (MBP) in the CSF of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE). F(ab')2 fragments prepared from SSPE IgG retained their activity, which showed that the assay measures a true antigen-antibody reaction rather than nonspecific adherence to IgG to MBP. Samples of CSF from 48 patients with MS and 30 patients with SSPE were tested and, in both conditions, antibody activity was significantly greater than in controls, when tested at identical IgG concentrations. In MS, levels of antibody were highest in patients with acute exacerbations and lower in patients in remission, which supported the hypothesis that autoimmunity to a myelin antigen may play a role in the pathogenesis of the disease. The reaction with MBP was consistently more pronounced in SSPE than in MS. In view of the association of SSPE with measles virus and the presence of high titers of measles antibody in the CSF, antibodies to measles and to MBP may be directed against similar antigenic determinants.

Topics: Autoantibodies; Hemagglutination Inhibition Tests; Humans; Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments; Immunoglobulin G; Measles; Multiple Sclerosis; Myelin Basic Protein; Myelin Sheath; Radioimmunoassay; Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis

Topics: Antibodies; Autoimmune Diseases; Epitopes; Humans; Immunization; Lymphocytes; Measles; Measles virus; Multiple Sclerosis; Myelin Basic Protein; Time Factors; Virus Diseases