HUMAN RETROVIRUSES AND DEMYELINATING DISEASES

The spectrum of neurologic disease associated with HTLV and HIV pathogenic retroviruses is expansive, and the clinical presentations may mimic other disease entities. In some cases, retroviral-associated encephalomyelitis may resemble multiple sclerosis, although there is little evidence to support a retroviral cause in clinical multiple sclerosis. Retroviruses subvert normal physiology directly, by viral antigen-induced toxic or immune-mediated responses, or via their capacity to induce host cellular gene expression by retroviral-mediated transactivation.