EBV And MS Progression

Researchers from the University at Buffalo and from the University of Trieste, Italy have discovered that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the mononucleosis-causing pathogen, is linked to the neurodegeneration seen in those who suffer from multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is an incurable autoimmune disease that can be responsible for serious disability.

Measurable Proof

The author of this study, Robert Zivadinov M.D., Ph.D., who serves as associate professor of neurology at UB's Jacobs Neurological Institute explains that this research gives the first measurable proof that a virus may be involved in determining the severity of MS progression and that this can be measured with MRI studies. Until now, there was some indication that a past EBV infection may play some part in MS, but prior to Zivadinov's study no one had discovered the relationship between EBV and brain damage, as seen in MRI scans.

Anti-EBV Antibodies

The study was a collaborative effort in which 135 patients consecutively diagnosed with MS at the University of Trieste's Multiple Sclerosis Center were the participants. MRI scans of these participants were analyzed at the University of Trieste as well as at the JNI's Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC), where Zivadinov serves as director. Zivadinov's team measured the patients' total brain volumes and the decreases in their gray matter. This was done at baseline as well as at three years on.

The analyses found that when levels of anti-EBV antibodies were high at baseline, there was greater loss of total brain volume and gray matter during the three-year assessment.  

The researchers are now hard at work on another study in which they hope to discover the role, if any, of the anti-EBV antibody levels in determining the development of gray matter atrophy, the progression of disability, and neurocognitive functioning in MS patients who present with a condition known as "clinically isolated syndrome," sometimes the first neurological event in the disease. This event lasts a minimum of 24 hours and is brought about by inflammation or demyelination in one or more than one site within the central nervous system. If a second episode should occur, the patient will be diagnosed with MS.

Yet another project involving both the UB and the Trieste scientists looks at the connections between specific genes, the environment, EBV antibodies, and how they might all be linked to apparent injury as seen in an MRI of the MS patient. These results will, in time, be published in the Journal of Neuroimmunology.