Department of Comparative Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7190, USA.
Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis. 2011 Sep;34(5):387-97. doi: 10.1016/j.cimid.2011.06.001. Epub 2011 Jul 23.
Scrapie is a prion-associated transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) of sheep and goats, and frequently serves as a comparative model for other prion diseases, such as chronic wasting disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy. TSEs are unique neurologic disorders that do not appear to be accompanied by robust systemic immunologic responses. mRNA data suggest that cytokines are involved in scrapie progression. In this study, brain tissue, mesenteric lymph nodes, splenic tissue and serum from ovinized mice were screened for 62 cytokine and cytokine-related proteins at pre-clinical and clinical points of infection. Expression patterns were compared to brain histology and clinical presentation. Increased cytokine expression in the brain and periphery were noted in scrapie-positive animals before histologic changes or clinical signs were evident. Of the 62 proteins examined, only IL-10 and TIMP-1 were consistently expressed at increased levels in the serum throughout infection. These cytokines could suggest future targets for biomarkers of infection and may, as well, provide insight into the biologic dynamics of prion-associated neurologic diseases.
瘙痒病是绵羊和山羊的朊病毒相关传染性海绵状脑病（TSE），经常作为其他朊病毒病（如慢性消耗病和牛海绵状脑病）的比较模型。TSE 是一种独特的神经疾病，似乎不伴有强烈的全身性免疫反应。mRNA 数据表明细胞因子参与瘙痒病的进展。在这项研究中，在感染前临床和临床阶段，从羊化小鼠的脑组织、肠系膜淋巴结、脾组织和血清中筛选了 62 种细胞因子和细胞因子相关蛋白。将表达模式与脑组织病理学和临床表现进行了比较。在组织病理学变化或临床症状出现之前，瘙痒病阳性动物的大脑和外周组织中就观察到细胞因子表达增加。在检查的 62 种蛋白质中，只有 IL-10 和 TIMP-1 在整个感染过程中始终在血清中以较高水平表达。这些细胞因子可能为感染的生物标志物提供未来的目标，并可能为朊病毒相关神经疾病的生物学动态提供深入了解。
