Superantigen Encephalitis in the Lewis Rat induced by Staphylococcal Enterotoxin A (SEA)

摘要

Superantigens have been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of different autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS). Previously it has been demonstrated that local expression of the superantigen staphylococcal enterotoxin-A (SEA) in the brains of rats may lead to encephalitis which could be amplified by intravenous injection of ConA-activated splenocytes (Kornhuber et al., 2002, Emmer et al., 2008). Now, both, gene expression analysis by microarray technique and immunohistochemical investigation of the cerebral perivascular infiltrates in SEA encephalitis reveal a CD8+ T-cell driven inflammatory reaction.