Neurotropic EV71 Causes Encephalitis by Engaging Intracellular TLR9 to Elicit Neurotoxic IL12-p40-iNOS Signaling

The authors showed that enterovirus 71 (EV71) engagement with intracellular receptor TLR9 elicited IL-12p40-iNOS signaling causing encephalitis in mice. They identified IL-12p40 to be the only prominent cytokine-induced at the early infection stage in the brainstem of mice subjected to a lethal dose of EV71.