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Neurodegenerative proteinopathies associated with neuroinfections
J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2021 Jul 5;1-16. doi: 10.1007/s00702-021-02371-7.
Krisztina Danics # 1 2, Shelley L Forrest # 3 4, Istvan Kapas 5, Irene Erber 6, Susanne Schmid 6, Klára Törő 1, Katalin Majtenyi 2, Gabor G Kovacs 7 8
Abstract:
...This study determined the prevalence and distribution of neurodegenerative proteinopathies in patients with infection-induced acute or chronic inflammation associated with herpes simplex virus (HSV) encephalitis (n = 13) and neurosyphilis (n = 23). The mean age at death in HSV patients was 53 ± 12 years (range 24-65 years) and survival was 9 days-6 years following initial infection. The mean age at death and survival in neurosyphilis patients was 60 ± 15 years (range 36-86 years) and 1-5 years, respectively. Neuronal tau-immunoreactivity and neurites were observed in 8 HSV patients and 19 neurosyphilis patients, and in approximately half of these, this was found in regions associated with inflammation and expanding beyond regions expected from the Braak stage of neurofibrillary degeneration. Five neurosyphilis patients had cortical ageing-related tau astrogliopathy. Aβ-plaques were found in 4 HSV patients and 11 neurosyphilis patients. Lewy bodies were observed in one HSV patient and two neurosyphilis patients. TDP-43 pathology was absent. These observations provide insights into deposition of neurodegenerative proteins in neuroinfections, which might have implications for COVID-19 patients with chronic and/or post-infectious neurological symptoms and encephalitis.
PMID: 34223998
Free Full-Text: https://www.ncbi..nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8255726/
Tags: Alzheimer’s, HSV, humans, Infection hypothesis, Lewy bodies, Syphilis, TDP-43