| First Author | Svensson A | Year | 2005 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 175 |
| Issue | 10 | Pages | 6802-11 |
| PubMed ID | 16272337 | Mgi Jnum | J:119699 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3703146 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.175.10.6802 |
| Citation | Svensson A, et al. (2005) Neurokinin 1 receptor signaling affects the local innate immune defense against genital herpes virus infection. J Immunol 175(10):6802-11 |
| abstractText | We show that genital infection with neurotropic HSV type 2 (HSV-2) induced a significant increase of the neuropeptide substance P (SP) within the genital tract of mice. SP was shown to weakly interfere with the HSV-2 replication. Furthermore, lack of SP signaling through the use of mice deficient in the SP receptor, neurokinin 1 receptor (NK1R), revealed an important role for SP in the innate defense against HSV-2. NK1R-deficient mice had significantly enhanced levels of HSV-2 in the genital tract and in the CNS following infection and a significantly accelerated disease progression, which was associated with an impaired NK cell activity locally in the vagina. Lack of NK1R signaling did, however, not impair the animals' ability to mount a protective immune response to HSV-2 following vaccination with an attenuated virus. Both NK1R+/+ and NK1R-/- mice developed strong HSV-2-specific Th1 T cell responses following vaccination. No genital viral replication was observed in either vaccinated NK1R-deficient or NK1R+/+ control animals following a genital HSV-2 challenge, and all of these animals survived without any symptoms of disease. In conclusion, the present results indicate that SP and NK1R signaling contributes to the innate resistance against HSV-2 infection in mice. |
