The immune response to infection can enhance neuronal damage

Diane E. Griffin*, March 24, 2011:

W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Conclusions
Encephalomyelitis resulting from virus infection of neurons is a disease that can be fatal or result in permanent disability due to irreversible damage of infected neurons.

The immune response to infection can enhance neuronal damage or can control virus replication by noncytolytic mechanisms and thus determine outcome.

However, noncytolytic virus clearance results in persistence of viral nucleic acid in the CNS and thus establishes a need for long-term local immune responses to prevent reactivation of infection and progressive disease. Understanding these mechanisms is necessary for development of strategies for treating and preventing neurologic disease due to viral encephalomyelitis.