tropical spastic paraparesis

Etiology: -> antibodies against human T-lymphotrophic virus-1 (HTLV-1) tax gene product Pathology: 1) autoantibody cross-reacts with hnRNP-A1 2) autoantibody stains Betz cells, the target of injury 3) autoantibody impairs neuronal firing of Betz cells

General

autoimmune disease paraparesis

References

- Journal Watch 22(12):95, 2002 - Levin MC et al Autoimmunity due to molecular mimicry as a cause of neurological disease. Nat Med 8:509, 2002 PMID: 11984596 - Wucherpfennig KW Infectious triggers for inflammatory neurological diseases. Nat Med 8:455, 2002 PMID: 11984586