United States – The discovery of the Epstein-Barr virus as partly responsible for multiple sclerosis has offered focus to the research on the autoimmune disease.
Now, police detectives in the UK and in Sweden think they are a little closer to knowing how the virus, which also leads to a disease known as mononucleosis, might be triggering MS, as reported by HealthDay.
Immune System Misdirection
“The discovery of the link between Epstein-Barr Virus [EBV] and multiple sclerosis has huge implications for our understanding of autoimmune disease, but we are still beginning to reveal the mechanisms that are involved,” said study senior author Dr. Graham Taylor, an associate professor of tumor immunology at the University of Birmingham in England.
“Our latest study shows that following Epstein-Barr virus infection, there is a great deal more immune system misdirection, or cross-reactivity than previously thought,” he explained in a university news release.
Study Findings: Antibodies and T-Cells
In a paper published more recently in the journal PLOS Pathogens, Taylor and his affiliates compared blood samples collected from individuals diagnosed with MS and the blood shed by people who suffered from the EBV virus in the recent past.
Controversy arises when the immune system produces antibodies when it encounters EBV. Past studies have shown that one of such EBNA1 antibodies present in the blood is not only specific to EBV but also targets proteins that crop up in the central nervous system—which might go a long way toward explaining how EBV could cause MS-related damage.
But in the new study, Taylor’s group have identified that EBV also appears to stimulate another important protagonist in the immune systems, the T-cells.
These T-cells seem to know certain brain proteins, suggesting yet another link to MS.
Cross-Reactive T-Cells
The “cross-reactive” T-cells were observed in the MS sufferers’ blood, but they were also present in healthy individuals, Taylor and colleagues pointed out.
Thus, variations in this sort of cell’s function between individuals may shed light on the EBV-MS link, the investigators speculated.
“Our detection of cross-reactive T-cells in healthy individuals suggests that it may be the ability of these cells to access the brain that is important in MS,” reasoned study author Dr. Olivia Thomas, an assistant professor of neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, as reported by HealthDay.
“We have shown that the human immune system cross-recognizes a much broader array of EBV and central nervous system proteins than previously thought and that different patterns of cross-reactivity exist,” Taylor added. “Knowing this will help identify which proteins are important in MS and may provide targets for future personalized therapies.”