PMID: 2491241Jan 1, 1989Paper

Immunohistochemistry of human immunodeficiency virus in the central nervous system and an hypothesis concerning the pathogenesis of AIDS meningoencephalomyelitis

Progress in AIDS Pathology
R H Rhodes, J M Ward

Abstract

Early events of HIV infection of the CNS are not yet clear. HIV infection in most recent cases, generally shows a prolonged interval between diagnosis and death. HIV infection, months to years before the patient's death, may or may not result in early neurologic symptoms. AIDS patients with spinal cord symptoms often show a sudden onset of long tract signs and a temporally related altered mental status indicating the appearance of both myelitis and encephalitis. Immunohistochemical localization of the HIV cell-surface receptor protein, CD4, and of HIV antigens in cerebral and lymph node venular endothelial cells suggests that a natural occurrence or induction of CD4 protein in some endothelial cells allows transmission of HIV from circulating infected white blood cells preferentially to certain tissues through endothelial cell infection. HIV immunolocalization is present in perivascular astrocytes, particularly in long white matter tracts, and on the surface of oligodendrocytes. HIV immunoreactivity is mostly in macrophages and multinucleated cells in a typical autopsy case, but this may be due to the clearing of HIV antigen from early sites of infection by the hematogenous cells. Not all immunoreactivity for HIV antigens is ne...Continue Reading

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