In a recent study published in the journal PLOS Pathogens , researchers investigated humoral and cell-mediated immune responses to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, post-infectious mononucleosis (POST-IM) patients, and EBV-seropositive healthy controls (HC) up to six months following disease resolution. They also evaluated central nervous system (CNS) antigenic targeting by anti-EBV cell-mediated immune responses. Study: Heightened Epstein-Barr virus immunity and potential cross-reactivities in multiple sclerosis .
Image Credit: Kateryna Kon / Shutterstock MS is a chronic inflammatory CNS disease that has become increasingly common in recent decades. EBV is a possible precursor to MS, although the underlying processes remain unclear. Previous studies report that immune responses to EBV may react to brain proteins resembling viral proteins, resulting in an adaptive immune response rather than infection.
The contribution of EBV-induced immune responses to the loss of CNS tissue in MS is unclear. Elevated antibodies to the "EBNA complex" are associated with an increased risk of MS, indicating that additional latent cycle antigens may potentially cause pathogenic responses. The primary distinction amongst EBV types globally is sequence divergence in EBNAs 2A, 3B, and 3C.
In the present study, researchers investigated immunological responses to EBV in people with multiple sclerosis, healthy controls, and those infected with the virus asymptomatically or.