Subject(s)
Auditory Cortex/pathology , Deafness/pathology , Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery/complications , Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery/pathology , Stroke/pathology , Aged , Aphasia, Wernicke/diagnostic imaging , Aphasia, Wernicke/etiology , Aphasia, Wernicke/pathology , Auditory Cortex/blood supply , Auditory Cortex/diagnostic imaging , Auditory Pathways/blood supply , Auditory Pathways/diagnostic imaging , Auditory Pathways/pathology , Auditory Perception/physiology , Deafness/diagnostic imaging , Deafness/etiology , Diagnosis, Differential , Disease Progression , Female , Functional Laterality/physiology , Humans , Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery/diagnostic imaging , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Recovery of Function/physiology , Stroke/complications , Stroke/diagnostic imaging , Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-PhotonABSTRACT
Chronic myelitis from Whipple's disease of the spinal cord is extremely rare. The differential diagnosis includes chronic inflammatory lesions, viral or bacterial infections, and tumours of the spinal cord. Here we present a 50-year-old man with mild sensory deficits because of a large lesion of the cervical spinal cord who markedly showed improvement during probatory antibiotic therapy. PCR and jejunal biopsy were initially negative and only later confirmed the diagnosis of Whipple's disease. Clinical and neuroradiological criteria are suggested which may be of help in the early diagnosis of spinal Whipple's disease before confirmation by molecular biology or histology.
Subject(s)
Cervical Vertebrae/pathology , Spinal Cord Diseases/pathology , Whipple Disease/pathology , Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Male , Middle Aged , Spinal Cord/microbiology , Spinal Cord/pathology , Spinal Cord Diseases/drug therapy , Spinal Cord Diseases/etiology , Spinal Cord Diseases/microbiology , Whipple Disease/complications , Whipple Disease/drug therapyABSTRACT
Classical swine fever virus (CSFV)-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) were derived from peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes of immunized NIH-minipigs (MHC d/d haplotype) after in vitro restimulation with infectious CSFV. Their cytotoxic activity was determined against CSFV-infected target cells obtained from simian virus 40 (SV40) large T antigen-transfected immortalized kidney cells of a syngeneic miniature swine. Experiments with separated effector cell populations revealed that the CSFV-specific cytotoxic activity was mediated by CD4(-)CD6+CD8+ MHC class I-restricted T lymphocytes. Infection of target cells with various vaccinia virus/CSFV recombinants led to the identification of a major antigenic site for CSFV-specific CTL near the cleavage site between the non-structural proteins p80 (NS3) and p10 (NS4a). Using synthetic overlapping nonapeptides which covered this protein region the sequence ENALLVALF is the first sequence to be identified as an MHC class I-restricted T cell epitope recognized by CSFV-specific CTL.
Subject(s)
Classical Swine Fever Virus/immunology , Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte/analysis , T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic/immunology , Amino Acid Sequence , Animals , Antigens, CD/analysis , Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte/analysis , CD4 Antigens/analysis , CD8 Antigens/physiology , Cell Line, Transformed , Classical Swine Fever/immunology , Cytotoxicity Tests, Immunologic , Epitope Mapping , Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte/chemistry , Molecular Sequence Data , Peptides/chemical synthesis , Peptides/immunology , Swine , Swine, Miniature , T-Lymphocyte Subsets/chemistry , T-Lymphocyte Subsets/immunology , Vaccinia virus/genetics , Viral Nonstructural Proteins/genetics , Viral Nonstructural Proteins/immunologyABSTRACT
To study which proteins of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) are able to confer protective immunity in swine, N-terminal autoprotease, viral core protein, and the three structural glycoproteins were expressed via vaccinia virus recombinants (VVR). CSFV proteins synthesized in cells infected with VVR showed migration characteristics on sodium dodecyl sulfate gels identical to those of their respective CSFV counterparts. Apparently authentic dimerization of the recombinant glycoproteins was observed. The glycoproteins E0 and E2 were detected on the surfaces of VVR-infected cells. In protection experiments, swine were immunized with the different VVR, and the generation of humoral immune response was monitored. Only animals vaccinated with VVR expressing E0 and/or E2 resisted a lethal challenge infection with CSFV. Glycoprotein E0 represents a second determinant for the induction of protective immunity against classical swine fever.
