Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by plaques of infiltrating CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells. Studies of MS and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS, focus on the contribution of CD4(+) myelin-specific T cells. The role of CD8(+) myelin-specific T cells in mediating EAE or MS has not been described pr...

Inflammatory neuropathies may be due to infection (with a specific casual agent identified) including Lyme disease, HIV, Leprosy, Herpes Zoster, Hepatitis B & C. The other group of are Autoimmune or possibly infectious (but with no specific causal infectious agent identified) including sarcoidosis, Guillain-Barre syndrome/ acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy ( AIDP), chronic in...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the potential role of prokineticin 2 (PK2), a bioactive peptide involved in multiple biological functions including immune modulation, in CNS autoimmune demyelinating disease. METHODS We investigated the expression of PK2 in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS), and in patients with relapsing-remitting ...

Peripheral neuropathies are among the most common diseases encountered in clinical neurology. Autoimmunity and inflammation are implicated in a small but important group of peripheral nerve disorders because they are potentially treatable. These include the acute inflammatory neuropathies grouped under Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and the chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropat...

Estrogen has well-documented neuroprotective effects in a variety of clinical and experimental disorders of the CNS, including autoimmune inflammation, traumatic injury, stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases. The beneficial effects of estrogens in CNS disorders include mitigation of clinical symptoms, as well as attenuation of histopathological signs of neurodegeneration and inflammation. The ...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating disorder of unknown etiology, possibly caused by a virus or virus-triggered immunopathology. The virus might reactivate after years of latency and lyse oligodendrocytes, as in progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or initiate immunopathological demyelination, as in animals infected with Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus or coronavi...

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) concentrations were determined in the CSF from 42 HIV-infected patients, with or without CNS involvement. In addition, 14 subjects with various neurological disorders but without HIV antibodies were included as controls. Raised CSF concentrations of TNF-alpha (greater than 40 ng/l) were detected both in patients with AIDS dementia complex (ADC) (6/9) and with ...

Current therapies for the autoimmune demyelinating disease multiple sclerosis (MS) target inflammation, but do not directly address neuroprotection or lesion repair. Cytokines of the gp130 family regulate survival and differentiation of both neural and immune cells, and we recently identified expression of the family member IL-11 in active MS plaques. In this study, we show that IL-11 regulates...

Olfactory dysfunction is recognised across an ever broadening spectrum of neuropsychiatric conditions including central nervous system (CNS) demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica (NMO). In this review, we unravel the striking evidence highlighting how olfactory loss is a common clinical feature in MS and NMO. We provide an overview of the supportive psy...

Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) is believed to contribute to immune-mediated demyelinating disorders by targeting the myelin-producing oligodendrocyte, a cell known to be highly sensitive to the disruption of protein synthesis and to the perturbation of the secretory pathway. We found that apoptosis induced by IFN-gamma in cultured rat oligodendrocytes was associated with endoplasmic reticulum (ER...