Open AccessMajor histocompatibility complex genes have an increased brain expression after scrapie infection.
Author(s) -
John R. Duguid,
Christopher Trzepacz
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.90.1.114
Subject(s) - scrapie , major histocompatibility complex , biology , gene , hamster , immune system , mhc class i , antigen , virology , gene expression , histocompatibility , immunology , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology , human leukocyte antigen , pathology , medicine , disease , prion protein
We have examined the expression of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens and related genes in scrapie-infected hamster brain. Both the class I and the class II MHC genes as well as the class II-associated invariant chain were found to have an increased brain expression after scrapie infection. The increased expression of the class I complex was immunohistochemically localized primarily to neurons, though some astrocytes contained much smaller amounts of the class I complex. While there is no detectable immune response to scrapie infection, the possibility that increased MHC expression affords some defense against the scrapie agent is discussed.