Pathogenesis of rabies virus in neuronal cells

狂犬病是一种致死性人畜共患疾病，其病原体为狂犬病毒，可感染神经元。在本研究中，使用实验动物和培养细胞进行实验研究，以澄清以下两个问题；哪些病毒因子引起神经元功能障碍？哪种免疫反应对中枢神经系统（CNS）的病毒清除很重要？通过实验性脑内接种，清楚地表明病毒特异性抗体在中枢神经系统中被高度诱导，并可能有助于病毒中和。此外，病毒核蛋白与一些神经细胞的转录本相互作用，提示宿主基因表达的干扰可能在狂犬病的发病机制中起作用。

Rabies is a lethal zoonotic disease and its causative agent is rabies virus, which infects in neurons. In the present study, experimental studies using laboratory animals and cultured cells were performed to clarify following two questions ; which viral factors induce dysfunction of neurons? And which immune response is important for the virus clearance from central nervous system (CNS)? By experimental intracerebral vaccination, it was clearly shown that virus-specific antibodies were highly induced in CNS and may contribute to the virus neutralization. Further, virus nucleoprotein interacted with some transcripts of neuronal cells suggesting the interference of host gene expression which may have roles in the pathogenesis of rabies.