Epstein-Barr virus may contribute to disease persistence – Heilpraxis

More evidence of Epstein-Barr virus for MS

There have long been indications that the multiple sclerosis (MS) by infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) could be triggered. Now there is more evidence for this hypothesis. In addition, viruses could also persist contribute to the disease.

A recent publication in the journalJournal of Experimental MedicineThe published study provides new insights into how the immune system differs in MS patients with respect to EBV. In MS patients, for example, there is an unusually broad T cell reaction and sustained emigration of EBV-specific T cells from the blood – an indication that EBV may also be contributing to the persistence of the disease. MS, reports the German Society for Neurology eV (DGN) in a current Message.

EBV infection is likely a trigger for MS

The search has been going on for years hypothesis postulated that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) of the herpes virus family may be causally involved in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS).

There are many clues, only in January appeared in the newspaper “Science‘ a widely acclaimed study that retrospectively assessed data from ten million members of the US military.

At that time, EBV infection was shown to increase the risk of MS by a factor of 32, and EBV appears to be not only a risk factor but a trigger for MS.

Exactly how the virus can trigger the immunological processes in MS has not yet been clarified, for example cross-reactions are under discussion antibody as humoral factors.

More detectable T cells

The current study by researchers at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität (WWU) Münster looked for changes in EBV-specific T-cell immunity in MS patients in relation to the cellular immune response to EBV. EBV in healthy individuals.

1,395 MS patients, 887 controls and 35 pairs of monozygotic twins, including one twin with MS, were analyzed. Identical twins with discordant illnesses are very suitable for investigations into external triggers of illnesses because their two genetic as well as the environmental factors of early childhood are virtually identical.

As DGN explains, T cell receptors on the surface of T cells were sequenced in participants’ blood, specifically the antigen-binding region of their beta chains. It has been shown that in MS patients, more unique EBV-specific beta TCR sequences, and therefore T cellswere detectable only in healthy people.

Affected twins also showed broader EBV-specific spectrum TCR inventory than her twin siblings, who are also EBV-positive but healthy.

Persistent or excessive EBV infection

“While in healthy people in blood and CSF, EBV-specific CD8 positives memory T cells of the effector type were detectable, we also found EBV-specific “central” memory T cells in the cerebrospinal fluid of MS patients as an indication of persistent immunological priming or an active immune reaction in Classes., explains the head of the study, Prof. Dr. Nicholas Schwab.

According to experts, this was also supported by the predominance of EBV sequences over so-called lytic virus epitopes in cerebrospinal fluid (replicating virus, no lag phase). This CSF results suggest that MS patients constantly grow new EBV-specific T cells that migrate from the blood to the CNS.

A drug inhibition this cell migration resulted in a corresponding increase in EBV-specific T cells in the blood.

“So MS is not just with a higher rate Seroprevalence of EBV antibodies associated, but also to a broader and apparently persistent EBV-specific immune response”according to Prof. Dr. Heinz Wiendl, Münster, Director of the University Clinic for Neurology with the Institute for Translational Neurology.

“Apparently we are dealing with persistent or excessive EBV infection or defective immunological control in people with MS. In further investigations, we want to know if this surprisingly large inventory of EBV-specific TCRs in MS patients is just a feature of their cellular alteration. immune response constitutes or leads to the pathology of MS in itself. (ad)