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Cerebral endothelial cell infection by measles virus in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis: ultrastructural and in situ hybridization evidence
Author(s) -
KIRK J.,
ZHOU A. L.,
McQUAID S.,
COSBY S. L.,
ALLEN D I. V.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
neuropathology and applied neurobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.538
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1365-2990
pISSN - 0305-1846
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2990.1991.tb00726.x
Subject(s) - subacute sclerosing panencephalitis , measles virus , morbillivirus , pathology , measles , biology , virus , endothelium , in situ hybridization , virology , immunology , medicine , vaccination , messenger rna , biochemistry , gene , endocrinology
Infection of vascular endothelium plays a central role in the pathogenesis of acute measles virus infection outside the central nervous system (CNS) but has not been described in the human CNS. An ultrastructural survey was made of blood vessels in five cases of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) to determine whether or not infection of cerebral vascular endothelium occurred in this persistent fatal CNS disease caused by measles virus. Morbillivirus nucleo‐capsids were found in a few endothelial cells in three necropsy cases but not in the limited tissue available from two biopsies. In a severe parenchymal lesion in one necropsied case, endothelial cells hybridized in situ with a biotinylated probe specific for the N genomic RNA of measles virus. It is concluded that human cerebral endothelium is susceptible to measles virus infection.