Advances in viral encephalitis: Viral transmission, host immunity, and experimental animal models
Dan Yang, 中国科学院大学，中国科学院武汉病毒研究所病毒学国家重点实验室，湖北 武汉430071，中国, Xiaojing Li, De-Zhen Tu, Xiuli Li, Bin Wei, 上海大学医学院，上海 200444，中国, 中国科学院分子细胞科学卓越创新中心细胞生物学国家重点实验室，上海 200031，中国, 兰州大学附属第二医院心内科，甘肃 兰州730030，中国, 上海大学生命科学学院，上海 200444，中国
Abstract
Viral infections have led to many public health crises and pandemics in the last few centuries. Neurotropic virus infection-induced viral encephalitis (VE), especially the symptomatic inflammation of the meninges and brain parenchyma, has attracted growing attention due to its high mortality and disability rates. Understanding the infectious routes of neurotropic viruses and the mechanism underlying the host immune response is critical to reduce viral spread and improve antiviral therapy outcomes. In this review, we summarize the common categories of neurotropic viruses, viral transmission routes in the body, host immune responses, and experimental animal models used for VE study to gain a deeper understanding of recent progress in the pathogenic and immunological mechanisms under neurotropic viral infection. This review should provide valuable resources and perspectives on how to cope with pandemic infections.