Protective and Pathological Immune Responses in the CNS

In spite of the protection of the CNS there are situations where immune responses occur due to different disease processes. While antigen-specific cells of the adaptive immune response are not normally functional in the CNS tissue, CNS resident cells respond to infection or insult. One mechanisms is through the induction of apoptosis in virus infected neurons, which may be protective or pathogenic depending on the extent of cell death.

It is well known that the CNS is normally protected from immune effectors because of the potential of irreversible damage to the nervous tissue. Nevertheless, there are situations where immune responses occur in the CNS due to different disease processes. Some of these responses are purely pathogenic while others clear or contain disease causing pathogens. In this volume, the mechanisms responsible for the varied outcomes are compared and contrasted.