Department of Bio-Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Wellness Science, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, PO Box 1906, Belliville Campus, 7530 Cape Town, South Africa.
Metab Brain Dis. 2012 Sep;27(3):311-8. doi: 10.1007/s11011-012-9292-z. Epub 2012 Mar 10.
Viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) which can establish latent infections in the central nervous system or the immune system have been associated with chronic neurological disorders, including multiple sclerosis. Results vary, therefore the aim of this study was to investigate the presence of EBV using both viral DNA and antibody screening techniques, using PCR and ELISA assays respectively, to evaluate viral presence in blood from control subjects and patients with multiple sclerosis. Viral gene sequences for latent proteins EBNA-1 and LMP-1 and lytic gene BamH1-W were present equally in both patients and controls (<7%). Anti-EBV-VCA IgG positive cases were present in >99% of all study subjects, and anti-EBV-VCA IgG immune status ratio showed a near-significant positive correlation with the EDSS in patients with multiple sclerosis. In contrast, Anti-EBV-VCA IgM positive cases were significantly increased in patients (controls: 23.3%; patients; 41.9%; P = 0.046). The IgM to IgG immune status ratio was near-significantly higher in patients with relapse episodes in the year preceding blood sampling (P = 0.058). Results from this and previous studies have shown higher prevalence rates for EBV evaluating anti-EBV IgM positive cases against viral DNA positive cases. Also, IgM, an innate immune response, showed an association with relapse episodes, suggesting viral re-activation as a contributing factor to these relapses.
病毒，如 Epstein-Barr 病毒（EBV），可在中枢神经系统或免疫系统中建立潜伏感染，与慢性神经紊乱有关，包括多发性硬化症。研究结果各不相同，因此，本研究旨在使用病毒 DNA 和抗体筛选技术（分别使用 PCR 和 ELISA 检测）来调查 EBV 的存在情况，评估来自对照组和多发性硬化症患者的血液中的病毒存在情况。潜伏蛋白 EBNA-1 和 LMP-1 的病毒基因序列和裂解基因 BamH1-W 在患者和对照组中存在的比例相等（<7%）。抗 EBV-VCA IgG 阳性病例在所有研究对象中存在>99%，抗 EBV-VCA IgG 免疫状态比值与多发性硬化症患者的 EDSS 呈近显著正相关。相比之下，抗 EBV-VCA IgM 阳性病例在患者中明显增加（对照组：23.3%；患者：41.9%；P = 0.046）。在血液采样前一年有复发发作的患者中，IgM 与 IgG 的免疫状态比值明显升高（P = 0.058）。本研究和以往研究的结果表明，评估抗 EBV IgM 阳性病例对病毒 DNA 阳性病例的 EBV 检出率更高。此外，IgM 作为先天免疫反应，与复发发作有关，提示病毒再激活是这些复发的一个促成因素。
