Osong Public Health Res Perspect.  2019 Feb;10(1):6-11. 10.24171/j.phrp.2019.10.1.03.

Natural Infection with Rabies Virus: A Histopathological and Immunohistochemical Study of Human Brains

• Farahtaj F
• Alizadeh L
• Gholami A
• Tahamtan A
• Shirian S
• Fazeli M
• Nejad AS
• Gorji A
• Niknam HM
• Ghaemi A

• KMID: 2441507
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.24171/j.phrp.2019.10.1.03

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
Despite all the efforts and increased knowledge of rabies, the exact mechanisms of infection and mortality from the rabies virus are not well understood. To understand the mechanisms underlying the pathogenicity of rabies virus infection, it is crucial to study the tissue that the rabies virus naturally infects in humans.
METHODS
Cerebellum brain tissue from 9 human post mortem cases from Iran, who had been infected with rabies virus, were examined histopathologically and immunohistochemically to evaluate the innate immune responses against the rabies virus.
RESULTS
Histopathological examination revealed inflammation of the infected cerebellum and immunohistochemical analyses showed an increased immunoreactivity of heat shock protein 70, interleukin-6, interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, caspase-3, caspase-9, toll-like receptor3 and toll-like receptor4 in the infected brain tissue.
CONCLUSION
These results indicated the involvement of innate immunity in rabies infected human brain tissue, which may aggravate the progression of this deadly disease.

Keyword

central nervous system; human; immunohistochemistry; pathology; rabies; tissue

MeSH Terms

Brain*
Caspase 3
Caspase 9
Central Nervous System
Cerebellum
HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins
Humans*
Immunity, Innate
Immunohistochemistry
Inflammation
Interleukin-1
Interleukin-6
Iran
Mortality
Pathology
Rabies virus*
Rabies*
Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
Virulence
Caspase 3
Caspase 9
HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins
Interleukin-1
Interleukin-6
Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha