title: Immune response in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis: reduced antibody response to the matrix protein of measles virus.
abstract: Immune precipitation was used to study the humoral immune response of patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE). Patients with SSPE have a progressive infection of the CNS by measles or a measles variant despite high serum antibody levels to measles virus as measured by standard serologic techniques. However, when the antibody response to individual measles virus proteins was measured, we found a striking reduction in the ability of sera from patients with SSPE to precipitate the matrix (M) protein as compared to the precipitation of the M protein by sera from normal adults who had natural measles infection in childhood, or by convalescent sera obtained 3 to 5 weeks after a naturally occurring measles infection. The decreased antibody response to the M protein in sera from patients with SSPE occurred despite a vigorous antibody response to the other viral proteins, suggesting a selective defect in the production of antibody to a single viral protein. The reduced anti-M antibody in sera from patients with SSPE was demonstrated whether immune precipitation was performed with wild-type measles virus or SSPE virus proteins. These results suggest that in SSPE only small amounts of the M protein are produced. This result may help explain how measles virus persists in the central nervous system of patients with SSPE.
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011232:Chemical Precipitation; D003289:Convalescence; D004306:Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; D006801:Humans; D007106:Immune Sera / Q000494:pharmacology; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D008457:Measles / Q000276:immunology; D008459:Measles virus / Q000276:immunology*; D013344:Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis / Q000276:immunology*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007106:Immune Sera; D014764:Viral Proteins