CD4 Deficiency Causes Poliomyelitis and Axonal Blebbing in Murine Coronavirus-Induced Neuroinflammation
Debanjana Chakravarty, Fareeha Saadi, Soumya Kundu, Abhishek Bose, Reas S. Khan, Kimberly Dine, Lawrence C. Kenyon, Kenneth S. Shindler, Jayasri Das Sarma
Abstract
The current trend in CNS disease biology is to attempt to understand the neural-cell–immune interaction to investigate the underlying mechanism of neuroinflammation, rather than focusing on peripheral immune activation. Most studies in MS are targeted toward understanding the involvement of CNS white matter. However, the importance of gray matter damage has become critical in understanding the long-term progressive neurological disorder. Our study highlights the importance of CD4 + T cells in safeguarding neurons against axonal blebbing and poliomyelitis from murine betacoronavirus-induced neuroinflammation. Current knowledge of the mechanisms that lead to gray matter damage in MS is limited, because the most widely used animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), does not present this aspect of the disease. Our results, therefore, add to the existing limited knowledge in the field. We also show that the microglia, though important for the initiation of neuroinflammation, cannot establish a protective host immune response without the help of CD4 + T cells.