Gene Expression Analysis of Host Innate Immune Responses in the Central Nervous System following Lethal CVS-11 Infection in Mice

SUMMARY: The central nervous system (CNS) tissue of mice infected with the CVS-11 strain of rabies virus (RABV) was subjected to gene expression analysis using microarray and canonical pathway analyses. Genes associated with innate immunity as well as inflammatory responses were significantly upregulated, corroborating with the previous findings obtained using attenuated viruses that did not induce a fatal outcome in infected mice. Histopathological examination showed that neurons in the cerebellum had undergone apoptosis. Although the extent of Fas ligand up-regulation was not so prominent, perforin and granzyme genes were highly expressed in the CNS of mice infected with CVS-11. The presence of perforin and granzymes both in the Purkinje cells and CD3 T lymphocytes strongly suggested that apoptosis of the former cells was induced by the latter cells.