Study Reveals How Epstein-Barr Virus Triggers Immune Response in Multiple Sclerosis

A new study published in Science Translational Medicine provides the first detailed mechanism linking Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) to multiple sclerosis (MS), showing that CD4+ T cells from MS patients mount a twice as strong response to viral proteins compared to healthy individuals Source: elespanol. The research, led by Kjetil Bjornevik of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, pinpoints that the immune reaction targets structural proteins from the lytic phase of EBV - such as capsid and glycoproteins - rather than the previously studied latent protein EBNA1 Source: elconfidencial.

Key Findings

• In untreated MS patients, CD4+ T cell responses to EBV lytic antigens were approximately double those of controls, suggesting a specific link to disease biology Source: infobae.
• Treatment with anti-CD20 antibodies (which deplete B cells) reduced T cell responses to EBV by 2.5 times and nearly eliminated viral shedding in saliva across two patient cohorts (69 people) Source: infobae.

Implications

This work clarifies why therapies targeting B cells are effective in MS and provides a foundation for developing vaccines and antivirals against EBV to prevent or treat the disease Source: elconfidencial. Ana Belén Caminero, a neurologist not involved in the study, noted that the results offer a "complementary vision" by focusing on lytic phase proteins Source: elespanol.