How Double-Stranded RNA Protects the Brain Against Infection While Making Damaging Neuroinflammation More Likely

Posted on Oct. 31, 2023 by Lawrence Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D

When you get a run-of-the-mill viral infection, after a few days of symptoms your immune system typically fends off the bug, and youll make a full recovery. In rare cases, a virus caninfect the brain. This can lead to much bigger problems, including cognitive impairments known as brain fog, other neuropsychiatric symptoms, potentially irreversible brain damage, or even death. For this reason, the brain, more than other parts of the body, relies heavily on immune responses that can control viral infections immediately.

Now some intriguing findings from an NIH-funded team reported inScience Immunologyhelp to explain how the brain is protected against infections.However, the findings also highlight a serious downside: these same mechanisms that protect the brain also leave it especially vulnerable to damaging levels of neuroinflammation.