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Another possible viral (retroviral) trigger?



Multiple sclerosis-associated retrovirus and optic neuritis.

Mult Scler. 2006 Jun;12(3):357-9.
Sotgiu S, Arru G, Soderstrom M, Mameli G, Serra C, Dolei A.
Institute of Clinical Neurology, University of Sassari, Viale San Pietro 10, 07100 Sassari, Italy. stefanos@uniss.it

One prognostic factor for early multiple sclerosis (MS) patients to develop a definite MS may be the presence of the MS-associated retrovirus (MSRV) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). We designed a specific study on a cohort of optic neuritis (ON) patients to evaluate the MSRV-dependent conversion to MS relative to the prediction conferred by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and CSF abnormalities.

At follow-up, 33.3% MSRV+ and 0% MSRV- ON patients developed MS (P = 0.03). The prediction value is lower than that given by CSF and MRI abnormalities (42.3%). This intriguing finding is discussed in the light of the abundant discrepancies observed in the MSRV literature.

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