Fox R J, Levin M C, Jacobson S
Viral Immunology Section, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
J Neurovirol. 1996 Oct;2(5):323-9. doi: 10.3109/13550289609146896.
HTLV-I Associated Myelopathy Tropical Spastic Paraparesis (HAM/TSP) is a chronic degenerative disease mainly affecting the spinal cord. The pathogenesis of HAM/TSP is unknown, but is thought to involve immunopathogenic mechanisms. Several reports have detected inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) in HAM/TSP patients. In this study, we used in situ hybridization (ISH) to examine the expression of TNF alpha RNA in spinal cord autopsy specimens from three chronic HAM/TSP patients with long-term disease (10-20 years duration). ISH identified many TNF alpha-expressing cells throughout all three patient's spinal cord tissues. Two patient's spinal cord tissue showed inflammatory cells, however double labeling by ISH for TNF alpha RNA with immunohisto-chemistry for CD45RO (a marker for memory T-cells) or CD-68 (a marker for microglia/macrophages) did not colocalize TNF alpha RNA with either CD45RO or CD-68 positive cells. Therefore, TNF alpha is expressed in the spinal cord of chronic HAM/TSP patients compared to normal controls and TNF alpha-expressing cells do not appear to be memory T-cells, microglia or macrophages.
人类嗜T淋巴细胞病毒I型相关脊髓病/热带痉挛性截瘫（HAM/TSP）是一种主要影响脊髓的慢性退行性疾病。HAM/TSP的发病机制尚不清楚，但被认为涉及免疫致病机制。一些报告在HAM/TSP患者中检测到了炎性细胞因子，如肿瘤坏死因子α（TNFα）。在本研究中，我们使用原位杂交（ISH）技术检测了3例病程长达10 - 20年的慢性HAM/TSP患者脊髓尸检标本中TNFαRNA的表达。ISH在所有3例患者的脊髓组织中均发现了许多表达TNFα的细胞。2例患者的脊髓组织显示有炎性细胞，然而，ISH对TNFαRNA与针对CD45RO（记忆T细胞标志物）或CD - 68（小胶质细胞/巨噬细胞标志物）的免疫组织化学进行双重标记时，未发现TNFαRNA与CD45RO或CD - 68阳性细胞共定位。因此，与正常对照相比，TNFα在慢性HAM/TSP患者的脊髓中表达，且表达TNFα的细胞似乎不是记忆T细胞、小胶质细胞或巨噬细胞。
