title: Acute and prolonged complement activation in the central nervous system during herpes simplex encephalitis.
abstract: Herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) is characterized by a pronounced inflammatory activity in the central nervous system (CNS). Here, we investigated the acute and prolonged complement system activity in HSE patients, by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for numerous complement components (C). We found increased cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of C3a, C3b, C5 and C5a in HSE patients compared with healthy controls. C3a and C5a concentrations remained increased also compared with patient controls. Our results conclude that the complement system is activated in CNS during HSE in the acute phase, and interestingly also in later stages supporting previous reports of prolonged inflammation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. Electronic address: charlotta.eriksson@gu.se.
authors.forename: Charlotta E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden; Department of Infectious Diseases, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Östra, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Studahl
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bergström
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D003167:Complement Activation / Q000502:physiology*; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020803:Encephalitis, Herpes Simplex / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003165:Complement System Proteins
keywords: Anaphylatoxins; Central nervous system infection; Complement activation; Herpes simplex encephalitis; Herpes simplex virus type 1