Primate lentivirus-associated encephalopathy

✍ Scribed by Eiden, Lee E.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 830 KB
• Volume: 2
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1080-4013
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2779(1996)2:4<257::aid-mrdd10>3.0.co;2-u

✦ Synopsis

Rhesus monkeys infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a lentivirus closely related t o human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), develop AIDS and encephalopathy with a frequency similar t o that of HIV-infected humans. The pathogenic relationships among systemic virus infection, central nervous system (CNS) inflammation and immune activation, viral infection o f the CNS, and clinical encephalopathy are still very poorly understood in HIV disease. Most puzzling is the apparent lack of correlation between extent of virus infection and degree of encephalopathy in human AIDS. This has focused attention on indirect mechanisms o f viral insult t o the brain. These include generation o f neurotoxins and inflammatory mediators in the CNS, and activation or dysregulation of microglia, glia, and neurons. Cellular and neurochemical processes triggered initially by virus infection and leading to encephalopathy can be systematically studied in the SIV-infected rhesus monkey. These same processes, perhaps triggered by other viruses, or by inflammatory events occuring during critical periods of development, may also be involved in other types of human encephalopathy. o I 997 Wiley-Liss, 1nc.t