| First Author | Freund YR | Year | 1992 |
| Journal | J Exp Med | Volume | 175 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 683-8 |
| PubMed ID | 1740661 | Mgi Jnum | J:1995 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:50519 | Doi | 10.1084/jem.175.3.683 |
| Citation | Freund YR, et al. (1992) Polymorphisms in the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) gene correlate with murine resistance to development of toxoplasmic encephalitis and with levels of TNF-alpha mRNA in infected brain tissue. J Exp Med 175(3):683-8 |
| abstractText | Murine resistance to development of toxoplasmic encephalitis (TE) has recently been mapped to the D region of the major histocompatibility complex (H-2). Since the gene for tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is located 5' of the D region and TNF-alpha has been implicated as playing a role in neurological diseases, we were interested in determining the relationship of TNF-alpha production to TE resistance. We have demonstrated that resistance to TE in inbred mice can be correlated with specific restriction fragment length polymorphisms and microsatellite variants in the TNF-alpha gene. Mice that are susceptible to TE express elevated levels of TNF-alpha mRNA in brain tissue 6 wk after infection with the ME49 strain of Toxoplasma gondii. Resistant mice and all mice that are uninfected show no detectable TNF-alpha mRNA expression in brain tissue. Differences in the TNF-alpha gene between susceptible and resistant mice have been localized to the first intron, the promoter, and the 3' end of the TNF-alpha gene. These data implicate differences in regulation of TNF-alpha production in brain tissue as contributing to differences in susceptibility to development of TE. |