In the nervous system of patients with this disease, significant accumulations of immune cells targeting the virus have been found. This may indicate that the Epstein-Barr virus is capable of actively provoking the immune system.

Multiple Sclerosis and Its Features

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, in which the body's own immune system mistakenly attacks the myelin sheaths of nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. This damage disrupts the transmission of nerve impulses and leads to the development of various severe symptoms, often resulting in disability.

Causes of MS and the Role of the Epstein-Barr Virus

The exact causes of multiple sclerosis remain unknown. In recent years, more and more evidence has emerged suggesting that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) may underlie the faulty immune response.

It is believed that the vast majority of people encounter this herpesvirus in childhood, after which adaptive immunity develops. EBV enters immune cells and remains in the body for life, usually in a dormant state, but it can reactivate depending on age, health status, and the condition of the immune system. EBV is the most common cause of infectious mononucleosis and has also been linked to certain cancers and autoimmune diseases.

Scientific Research: The Link Between EBV and Multiple Sclerosis

The hypothesis that EBV may be one of the triggers for MS is supported by the results of a large-scale, long-term study published in 2022 in the journal Science. The authors analyzed data from more than 10 million people collected over 20 years and found that after EBV infection, the risk of developing multiple sclerosis increases 32-fold.

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, whose article appeared in Nature Immunology, discovered new data that may explain how EBV contributes to the development of MS.

Mechanisms of the Immune Response

Scientists analyzed the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of 13 patients with MS or early signs of the disease, as well as five people without MS. Special attention was paid to CD8+ T cells (cytotoxic T lymphocytes, or T-killers), which usually destroy infected or damaged cells in the body.

The analyses showed that in participants without MS, the number of T-killers recognizing EBV viral proteins was the same in both blood and cerebrospinal fluid. In MS patients, however, a different pattern emerged: the concentration of EBV-targeting T-killers in the cerebrospinal fluid was 10, and sometimes even 100 times higher than in the blood. This imbalance points to unusual immune activity in the central nervous system.

Moreover, although EBV was detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of most participants regardless of MS status, one of the viral genes was active only in people with the disease. Scientists suggested that the activity of this gene may trigger the faulty immune response characteristic of multiple sclerosis.

Treatment Prospects

The results of this scientific work may help in developing new approaches to treating multiple sclerosis that focus on directly targeting the Epstein-Barr virus, researchers note.