Correlation of cytokine expression with rabies virus distribution in rabies encephalitis.
Rabies encephalitis is a significant health hazard, particularly in Asia. To understand the role of immune mechanisms and cytokines in rabies encephalitis, we performed a retrospective and prospective study on the autopsy material. Representative histopathological sections were studied and subjected to immunostaining for rabies virus antigen, TNF-alpha and IL-1beta. Immunohistochemistry for IL-1beta and TNF-alpha revealed expression of these cytokines in 96% of cases in microglial cells, macrophages and lymphocytes with a strong positive correlation between IL-1beta and TNF-alpha immunopositivity and degree of perivascular and parenchymal inflammation. In addition, expression of IL-1beta and TNF-alpha also correlated positively with each other. However there was no direct correlation of viral antigen load with grading of cytokine expression. These findings indicate that IL-1beta and TNF-alpha together may play an important role to coordinate the dramatic inflammatory response associated with the rabies-encephalopathy. They may serve as important targets for future therapy.
Department of Histopathology, PGIMER, Chandigarh 160012, India. anjalipgi@gmail.com
Anjali
A
Solanki
Bishan Dass
BD
Radotra
Rakesh Kumar
RK
Vasishta
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018792:Encephalitis, Viral / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D015967:Gene Expression Regulation, Viral / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D016899:Interferon-beta / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011817:Rabbits; D011820:Rabies virus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
D000956:Antigens, Viral; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D016899:Interferon-beta