Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
Interdepartmental Research Center for the Study of Multiple Sclerosis and Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases of the Nervous System, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jan 12;24(2):1500. doi: 10.3390/ijms24021500.
(1) Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of autoimmune origin. The Epstein−Barr virus (EBV) is associated with the onset of MS, as almost all patients have high levels of EBV-specific antibodies as a result of a previous infection. We evaluated longitudinally the effects of dimethyl fumarate (DMF), a first-line treatment of MS, on the quantity and quality of EBV-specific IgG in MS patients. (2) Serum samples from 17 MS patients receiving DMF were taken before therapy (T0) and after 1 week (T1) and 1 (T2), 3 (T3) and 6 (T4) months of treatment. Anti-EBV nuclear antigen (EBNA)-1 and capsid antigen (CA) IgG levels and anti-CA IgG avidity were measured in all samples. (3) Serum levels of anti-CA IgG were lower at T1 (p = 0.0341), T2 (p = 0.0034), T3 (p < 0.0001) and T4 (p = 0.0023) than T0. These differences were partially confirmed also in anti-EBNA-1 IgG levels (T3 vs. T0, p = 0.0034). All patients had high-avidity anti-CA IgG at T0, and no changes were observed during therapy. (4): DMF can reduce the amount but not the avidity of the anti-EBV humoral immune response in MS patients from the very early stages of treatment.
(1) 多发性硬化症 (MS) 是一种自身免疫性慢性炎症性疾病。爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒 (EBV) 与 MS 的发病有关，因为几乎所有患者由于先前的感染，都具有高水平的 EBV 特异性抗体。我们纵向评估了二甲基富马酸 (DMF)，一种 MS 的一线治疗药物，对 MS 患者 EBV 特异性 IgG 的数量和质量的影响。(2) 在接受 DMF 治疗前 (T0)、治疗后 1 周 (T1)、1 个月 (T2)、3 个月 (T3) 和 6 个月 (T4) 时，采集了 17 名 MS 患者的血清样本。在所有样本中测量了抗 EBV 核抗原 (EBNA)-1 和衣壳抗原 (CA) IgG 水平和抗 CA IgG 亲和力。(3) 与 T0 相比，T1 (p = 0.0341)、T2 (p = 0.0034)、T3 (p < 0.0001) 和 T4 (p = 0.0023) 时血清 CA IgG 水平较低。在抗 EBNA-1 IgG 水平中也部分证实了这些差异 (T3 与 T0，p = 0.0034)。所有患者在 T0 时均具有高亲和力的抗 CA IgG，并且在治疗过程中未观察到变化。(4)：DMF 可以从治疗的早期开始减少 MS 患者的 EBV 体液免疫反应的量，但不会改变其亲和力。
