Novel role of human CD4 molecule identified in neurodegeneration. NLM AIDSLINE Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

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Novel role of human CD4 molecule identified in neurodegeneration.

Nat Med. 1998 Apr;4(4):441-6. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/98206867
Buttini M; Westland CE; Masliah E; Yafeh AM; Wyss-Coray T; Mucke L; Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco; 94141-9100, USA.

Abstract: The human CD4 molecule (hCD4) is expressed on T lymphocytes and macrophages and acts as a key component of the cellular receptor for HIV. At baseline, hCD4 transgenic mice expressed hCD4 on microglia, the resident mononuclear phagocytes of the brain, and showed no neuronal damage. Activation of brain microglia by peripheral immune challenges elicited neurodegeneration in hCD4 mice but not in nontransgenic controls. In post-mortem brain tissues from AIDS patients with opportunistic infections, but without typical HIV encephalitis, hCD4 expression correlated with neurodegeneration. We conclude that hCD4 may function as an important mediator of indirect neuronal damage in infectious and immune-mediated diseases of the central nervous system.
Keywords: *Antigens, CD/PHYSIOLOGY *Antigens, CD4/PHYSIOLOGY *AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections/IMMUNOLOGY *AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections/PATHOLOGY *Brain/IMMUNOLOGY *Microglia/IMMUNOLOGY *Nerve Degeneration/IMMUNOLOGY

KWDantigens,cd/physiologyKWDantigens,cd4/physiologyKWDaids-relatedopportunisticinfections/immunologyKWDaids-relatedopportunisticinfections/pathologyKWDbrain/immunologyKWDmicroglia/immunologyKWDnervedegeneration/immunology
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M9871343

Copyright © 1998 - National Library of Medicine. Reproduced under license with the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.

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