Herpesviruses, autoimmunity and epilepsy: Peptide sharing and potential cross-reactivity with human synaptic proteins

Publication date: Available online 9 August 2019Source: Autoimmunity ReviewsAuthor(s): Guglielmo LuccheseAbstractAggregation of immuno-proteomic data reveal that i) herpesviruses and synaptic proteins –in particular Synapsin-1 and Bassoon - share a large number of hexapeptides that also recur in hundreds of epitopes experimentally validated as immunopositive in the human host, and ii) the shared peptides are also spread among human epilepsy-related proteins. The data suggest that cross-reactive processes may be associated with pathogenetic mechanisms in epilepsy, thus suggesting a role of autoimmunity in etiopathology of epilepsies after herpesvirus-infections.
Source: Autoimmunity Reviews - Category: Allergy & Immunology Source Type: research