Table 1 Neurodegenerative diseases and mechanisms underlying the viral-neurodegenerative links
Virus | Family | Genome | Disease | Mechanism of pathogenesis | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) | Herpesviridae | dsDNA | Alzheimer’s Disease | Chronic inflammation during viral replication | [13] |
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) | Herpesviridae | dsDNA | Alzheimers Disease | Associated with higher rate of APOE genotype | [108] |
Parkinson’s Disease | Assumed to be neuroinflammation and immunological factors | [63] | |||
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis | Neuroinflammatory | [72] | |||
Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) | Multiple sclerosis | Promotes inflammatory cascade | [85] | ||
Varicella zoster virus | Multiple sclerosis | Viral reactivation could trigger immune responses, in turn causing the demyelination of neurons | |||
Epstein‒Barr virus (EBV) | Parkinson’s Disease | Antigen mimicry | [66] | ||
Human papillomavirus (HPV) | Papillomaviridae | dsDNA | Dementia | Systemic inflammation and impaired blood flow can lead to cognitive decline | |
Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) | Retroviridae | ssRNA | Alzheimers Disease | Can infect macrophages in microglia | [51] |
Huntington’s disease | Speed up the appearance of symptoms in HD | [24] | |||
Influenza A | Orthomyxoviri-dae | -veRNA | Alzheimers Disease | Microglial activation due to immune activity against the virus | |
Parkinson’s Disease | Occurrence is associated no mechanism uncovered | ||||
SARS-CoV-2 | Coronaviridae | ssRNA | Alzheimers Disease | Hyperinflammation and hypoxia | [53] |
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis | Neuroinflammation leads to notable decline in cases | [78] | |||
Huntington's disease | Inflammatory effect caused by the infection can trigger early onset | [93] | |||
Vascular dementia | Causative agent in the small vessel cerebrovascular complication | ||||
Friedreich ataxia | Worsens the disease due to the effect on the complications of the disease such as diabetes and cardiomyopathy, sleep apnea and scoliosis | [103] | |||
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) | Flaviviridae | ssRNA | Parkinson’s Disease | Dopaminergic neuronal toxicity | [65] |
Epstein‒Barr virus (EBV) | Herpesviridae | dsDNA | Parkinson’s Disease | Antigen mimicry | [66] |
Multiple sclerosis | Promotes inflammatory cascade | ||||
Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) | Picornaviridae | ssRNA | Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis | Promoting immune cell infiltration and activation, includes an increase in cytokine and chemokine expression | [77] |
Norovirus | Caliciviridae | RNA | Lewy body disease | Ulcerated lesion along with inflammation and fibrosis showed traces of norovirus related to alpha-synuclein | [96] |