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Isolation of Brain-infiltrating Leukocytes
Published on: June 13, 2011
Poliovirus, pathogenesis of poliomyelitis, and apoptosis
B Blondel1, F Colbère-Garapin, T Couderc
1Laboratoire des Virus Entérotropes et Stratégies Antivirales, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France. bblondel@pasteur.fr
Abstract:
Poliovirus (PV) is the causal agent of paralytic poliomyelitis, an acute disease of the central nervous system (CNS) resulting in flaccid paralysis. The development of new animal and cell models has allowed the key steps of the pathogenesis of poliomyelitis to be investigated at the molecular level. In particular, it has been shown that PV-induced apoptosis is an important component of the tissue injury in the CNS of infected mice, which leads to paralysis. In this review the molecular biology of PV and the pathogenesis of poliomyelitis are briefly described, and then several models of PV-induced apoptosis are considered; the role of the cellular receptor of PV, CD155, in the modulation of apoptosis is also addressed.
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