Role in Disease
Interest in MBP has centered on its role in demyelinating diseases, in particular, multiple sclerosis (MS). Several studies have shown a role for antibodies against MBP in the pathogenesis of MS. Some studies have linked a genetic predisposition to MS to the MBP gene, though a majority have not.
Some recent works have shown that inoculating an animal with MBP to generate an immune response against it increases blood–brain barrier permeability.
A targeted immune response to MBP has been researched in lethal rabies infection. The inoculation of MBP generates increases the permeability of the blood–brain barrier (BBB), allowing immune cells to enter the brain, the primary site of rabies virus replication. In a study of mice infected with Silver-haired bat rabies virus (SHBRV), the mortality rate of mice treated with MBP improved 20%-30% over the untreated control group. It is significant to note that healthy uninfected mice treated with MBP showed an increase in mortality rate between 0% and 40%.
A "molecular mimicry" hypothesis of multiple sclerosis has been suggested in which T cells are essentially confusing MBP with human herpesvirus-6. Researchers in the United States created a synthetic peptide with a sequence identical to that of an HHV-6 peptide. They were able to show that T cells were activated by this peptide. These activated T cells also recognized and initiated an immune response against a synthetically created peptide sequence that is identical to part of human MBP. During their research, they found that the levels of these cross-reactive T cells are significantly elevated in multiple sclerosis patients.
Read more about this topic: Myelin Basic Protein
Famous quotes containing the words role in, role and/or disease:
“So successful has been the camera’s role in beautifying the world that photographs, rather than the world, have become the standard of the beautiful.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“Whatever we’re doing, whoever we are, it isn’t enough. . . . Little wonder we have trouble finding role models to guide us through these shoals. No one less than God Herself could be all the things we’d like to be to all the people we’d like to feel approval from.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“‘Tis the common disease of all your musicians that they know no mean, to be entreated, either to begin or end.”
—Ben Jonson (c. 1572–1637)