Neurotrophic Factors and Survival in the Inflamed Nervous System

Neurotrophic Factors and Survival in the Inflamed Nervous System 

it is currently not clear how local factors in the target tissue modulate recovery from an immune attack in the PNS. As yet unknown genetic susceptibility factors may modulate the inflammatory process itself and the response of axons and of myelinating Schwann cells to the inflammatory assault. As an example, axonal degeneration occurring in autoimmune neuropathies clearly affects prognosis (Dalakas, 1999). Indeed, parallel expression of neurotrophic factors and their receptors in CIDP may reflect such survival mechanisms in the PNS (Yamamoto et al., 2002). 

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