This new blood test could help better understand the links between multiple sclerosis and the Epstein Barr virus.
- Epstein Barr virus is considered one of the risk factors for multiple sclerosis.
- Irish researchers have developed a blood test to measure the immune response to the virus.
- This could help to better understand the links between the disease and the virus.
The causes of multiple sclerosis (MS) remain unclear. For many years, scientists have noted that viruses could be linked to its appearance, including that of Epstein Barr (EBV). In the magazine Neurology Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammationresearchers from Trinity College Dublin explain that they have developed a blood test to better understand the links between the neurological disease and the virus. MS is characterized by an inflammatory reaction of autoimmune origin directed against myelin, one of the compounds in the protective sheath of nerve fibers.
MS: an analysis of the immune response to the Epstein Barr virus
“Why do some people with MS have a dysregulated immune response to EBV, a common, usually asymptomatic viral infection?ask the authors in a communicated. To answer this question, they used a blood test to analyze the immune responses of different MS patients to EBNA-1. The latter is a part of the Epstein Barr virus that can mimic the myelin layer of nerves, the main point of attack for the immune system in MS.
“The team found that the immune response to EBNA-1 is higher in people with MS than in those with epilepsy or the healthy control group, indicates the press release. It also showed that this cellular response is influenced by currently approved MS drugs, which target the immune system, but not the virus.” People with the disease and taking treatment had a weaker immune response than those not taking these drugs. For the authors, these results confirm the need for a treatment precisely targeting the virus, rather than all B cells. Indeed, these are important for fighting infections, and the reduction in their activity can lead to different effects. secondary.
Multiple sclerosis: a better understanding of the immune response in the future?
“This research is important because a standard blood test performed in a hospital laboratory provides important information about the immune system’s response to EBNA-1, believe the authors. This response appears to be central to the pathogenesis of MS. The ability to measure this through a test, developed based on an existing diagnostic tool, has implications for future research aimed at better understanding the biology of EBV in MS.”
In the longer term, this test could also be used for clinical trials focused on the virus. “This would mean that it would be possible to directly measure the immune response to any potential antiviral treatment, rather than just measuring MS outcome measures.”, summarize the Irish scientists. The team hopes to be able to conduct a longitudinal study soon. “We want to recruit newly diagnosed people and do this blood test before starting treatment and then repeat it at regular intervals to show that B cell depletion has a direct impact on the cellular response to EBNA-1 in the SEP”announces Dr. Hugh Kearney, lead author of the study and neurologist at Trinity College.
