Molecular mimicry in infectious encephalitis and neuritis: Binding of antibodies against infectious agents on Western blots of human nervous tissue

Objectives: To study the occurrence of cross-reactivities of antibodies aga inst infectious agents with human nervous tissue. Methods: Binding of 25 antibodies against 17 neurotropic pathogens comprisi ng Borrelia burgdorferi, Toxoplasma gondii, and various DNA and RNA viruses to Western blots of human cortex and myelin from central and peripheral ne rvous system was investigated. Results: Fourteen of the 25 antibodies tested showed binding to Western blo ts of human nervous tissue, suggesting the presence of shared epitopes, Bin ding of 11 antibodies against 10 pathogens to cortex and/or myelin correlat ed with the tissue targeted by neuropathological lesions, Three antibodies did not show such correlation; 11 antibodies did not bind at all, Conclusions: Our results suggest that shared epitopes between infectious ag ents and human nervous tissues are more common than previously expected. Th us, molecular mimicry should be considered more frequently as a possible pa thogenetic mechanism, among others, inducing tissue damage in encephalitis and neuritis caused by various pathogens. (C) 2000 The British Infection So ciety.