Abstract
To investigate the molecular basis for measles virus persistence in patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), the authors used a high-density oligonucleotide microarray, and found that the expression of granulysin in peripheral blood mononuclear cells was significantly lower in the patients than in the controls. By a quantitative reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction, the mRNA levels of granulysin were decreased in 30 SSPE patients, and were increased in 7 measles patients, as compared to the 23 controls. These results imply that granulysin might play a role in the host defense against measles virus and possibly be involved in the pathogenesis or pathophysiology of SSPE. Journal of NeuroVirology (2005) 11, 299–305.
The authors wish to thank Drs. H. Hattori (Osaka City University Medical School), S. Yamashita (Kanagawa Children's Medical Center), K. Nihei (National Children's Hospital), N. Koide (National Iwaki Hospital), H. Aiba (Shizuoka Children's Hospital), T. Okada (Kochi Medical School), F. Hamada (Hosogi Hospital), N. Koyama (Toyohashi Municipal Hospital), Y. Hirata (Hamamatsu Medical Center), C. Baba (Red Cross Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hospital), A. Ono (Saiseikai Izumio Hospital), A. Tomoda (Kumamoto University), M. Funahashi (Tokyo Children's Rehabilitation Hospital), T. Kurokawa (National Nishi-Beppu Hospital), R. Sakuta (Dokkyo University Koshigaya Hospital), M. Miyazaki (Tokushima University), K. Shioya (National Nichinan Hospital), N. Nagano (Asahikawa City Hospital), T. Ishizu (National Saishunso Hospital), K. Gondo, Y. Tokunaga (Kyushu University), and K. Watanabe (Kagoshima Municipal Hospital) for providing us with patient samples.
This study was supported in part by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (No. 16390304) and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Japan and a Grant of the Interdisciplinary Programs in Education and Projects in Research Development (P & P) from Kyushu University.