Du Caigan, Yao Song-Yi, Ljunggren-Rose Asa, Sriram Subramaniam
Department of Neurology, Multiple Sclerosis Research Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37212, USA.
J Exp Med. 2002 Dec 16;196(12):1639-44. doi: 10.1084/jem.20020393.
Experimental allergic encephalitis (EAE) is considered by many to be a model for human multiple sclerosis. Intraperitoneal inoculation of mice with Chlamydia pneumoniae, after immunization with neural antigens, increased the severity of EAE. Accentuation of EAE required live infectious C. pneumoniae, and the severity of the disease was attenuated with antiinfective therapy. After immunization with neural antigens, systemic infection with C. pneumoniae led to the dissemination of the organism into the central nervous system (CNS) in mice with accentuated EAE. Inoculation with Chlamydia trachomatis did not worsen EAE and infectious organisms were not seen in the CNS. These observations suggest that dissemination of C. pneumoniae results in localized infection in CNS tissues in animals with EAE. We propose that infection of the CNS by C. pneumoniae can amplify the autoreactive pool of lymphocytes and regulate the expression of an autoimmune disease.
许多人认为实验性变应性脑脊髓炎（EAE）是人类多发性硬化症的一种模型。在用神经抗原来免疫小鼠后，经腹腔接种肺炎衣原体，会增加EAE的严重程度。EAE的加重需要活的感染性肺炎衣原体，并且抗感染治疗会减轻疾病的严重程度。在用神经抗原来免疫后，肺炎衣原体的全身感染会导致EAE加重的小鼠体内的病原体扩散到中枢神经系统（CNS）。接种沙眼衣原体不会使EAE恶化，并且在中枢神经系统中未发现感染性生物体。这些观察结果表明，肺炎衣原体的扩散会导致患有EAE的动物中枢神经系统组织发生局部感染。我们提出，肺炎衣原体对中枢神经系统的感染会扩大自身反应性淋巴细胞库并调节自身免疫性疾病的表达。
