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The more I read about viruses and MS, the less I understand...


Herpesviruses and human endogenous retroviral sequences in the cerebrospinal fluid of multiple sclerosis patients.

Mult Scler. 2008 Jun;14(5):595-601.
Alvarez-Lafuente R, García-Montojo M, De Las Heras V, Domínguez-Mozo M, Bartolome M, Benito-Martin M, Arroyo R.
Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid 28040, Spain. labesmul@hcsc.es.

Objective
To analyze the possible role of human herpesvirus (HHVs) and human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) infection in multiple sclerosis (MS) pathogenesis.

Methods
A total of 92 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were collected: 48 from MS patients at the first clinically evident demyelinating event, 23 from patients with other inflammatory neurological diseases (OINDs) and 21 from patients with other non-inflammatory neurological diseases (ONINDs). Total DNA and RNA were isolated, and the prevalences and viral loads of herpes simplex virus (HSV), varicella-zoster virus (VZV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), HHV-6, HERV-H and HERV-W in the CSF of MS patients and controls were evaluated using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay.

Results
(i) For HSV, 1/48 (2.1%, 86 copies/ml of CSF) MS patients and 1/23 (4.3%, 115.2 copies/ml of CSF) OIND patients (a myelitis case) had HSV sequences in the CSF; (ii) for EBV, only 1/48 (2.1%, 72 copies/ml of CSF) MS patients was positive for EBV; (iii) for HHV-6, only 5/48 (10.4%) MS patients had HHV-6 genomes in their CSF (128.1 copies/ml of CSF); (iv) we did not find any positive cases for VZV, CMV, HERV-H and HERV-W among MS patients or controls; (v) no cases of co-infections were found; (vi) the whole prevalence of HHVs was 7/48 (14.6%) for MS patients and 1/44 (2.3%) for controls (p = 0.038).

Conclusion
The findings described here show that HHV infection is more frequent in the CSF of MS patients than in patients with other neurological diseases; however, only HHV-6 seems to be involved in the pathogenesis of MS in a subset of patients.

Pubmed link

Dignan,

Is this different research from the following?

Ancient Retrovirus May Contribute to Multiple Sclerosis 23 June 2008
Smoldering Infections of Two Common Viruses EBV and HHV-6 Cause Inherited Retrovirus Genes to Activate.

Brigitte Huber, PhD, of the Tufts University School of Medicine, presented evidence at a medical conference that suggested that a reactivated ancient retrovirus embedded in the human genome may be active in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Danish scientists at the same conference suggested that the activation of this retrovirus, dormant in healthy individuals, could be the reason why autoimmune conditions worsen with viral infections.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Multiple Sclerosis Patients at Increased Risk From the Effects of HERV-K18 Activation

"Patients with profoundly fatiguing diseases such as MS and CFS may be particularly susceptible to HERV-K18 activation," said Dr. Huber. The announcement was made at the International Symposium on Viruses in CFS and Post-Viral Fatigue, a satellite conference of the 6th International Conference on HHV-6 & 7. Using an SNP-based genotyping method, Dr. Huber found that both MS and CFS patients (whose illness had been triggered by infectious mononucleosis) were at a higher relative risk for containing HERV-K18 variants known to induce superantigen activity. Superantigens are proteins that are able to induce a strong undifferentiated T-cell response believed to deplete the immune system over time.

Viral activity and/or immune activation has been shown to trigger HERV-K18 activity. Both Epstein-Barr virus infection (infectious mononucleosis) and interferon-alpha administration are associated with HERV-K18 activity. "HHV-6 activates HERV-K18 as well," said Danish investigator Per Hollsberg, MD and professor from the University of Aarhus In Denmark. His PhD student Vanda Lauridsen Turcanova presented this data at the same conference. "Furthermore, this retrovirus activation may have important consequences for autoimmunity," he added.

HERV-K18 activation may be the endpoint of an HHV6/EBV interferon pathway operating in both MS and CFS. HHV-6 is being investigated as a co-factor in both diseases. Other retroviruses, HERV-H and HERV-W, have been implicated in MS by other researchers. Over 75% of MS patients meet the criteria for CFS. Fatigue is often the most disabling symptom for MS patients. The two diseases also share characteristics such as grey matter atrophy, impaired cerebral glucose metabolism, autonomic nervous system activity and altered patterns of brain activity.

Dr. Huber's study suggests that endogenous retroviral activation in CFS and MS could produce some of the symptoms associated with both diseases. She has received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to study these issues. Per Hollsberg has done extensive research on the role of EBV and HHV-6 in multiple sclerosis.

The HHV-6 Foundation

The HHV-6 Foundation encourages scientific exchanges and provides grants to researchers seeking to increase our understanding of HHV-6 infection in a wide array of central nervous system disorders. Daram Ablashi, the co-discoverer of the HHV-6 virus, is the Foundation's Scientific Director.

Source: The HHV-6 Foundation

No, not the same, but the article you posted is interesting. I hope nobody here ever gets a "smoldering infection", that can't be good.

.

Bob,

We are talking about viral infections not bacterial infections.

You stick to the Tovaxin and Revimmune threads. Dignan and I cover this territory and we don't much like intruders.

Sarah is pretty lonely on the abx forum so I'm sure she wouldn't mind you popping in.

B

.

More recent virus news...

The infectious romp that the measles virus takes through the body doesn’t need to involve the airways, as was previously thought. Instead, the virus prefers to replicate in immune cells. This finding potentially paves the way for new and better cancer treatments that use a modified version of the measles virus to focus on the immune system.

Measles was thought to spread by first infecting the cells that line the airways before going on to attack the immune cells. An alternative suggestion, that the virus is carried primarily by lymphatic immune cells, was tested by Roberto Cattaneo at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues. Their results are published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

More at...

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080620/ ... 8.907.html


NHE

Dignan and Bromley-
this is fascinating, thanks for the posts.
It seems that many viruses can activate this underlying, dormant virus...thus the implications for EB, HHV, measles, mono, rubella, etc, in MS.

This HERV-K-18 virus connects the dots. It's kinda like the mother of all viruses.

"Located on the first chromosome, HERV-K18
(1q23.1-q24)sits on the first intron of the cellular geneCD48
and has an opposite direction of transcription to that gene(7).
Absent in New World monkeys, HERV-K18 is found in hu-
mans and Old World primates. Although most HERVs have no
known biological functions, the Env protein encoded by
HERV-K18has a superantigen activity that is readily induced
in lymphocytes upon EBV infection"

From the journal of immunology.

http://www.jimmunol.org/cgi/reprint/177/4/2056.pdf

BTW, Gibbledygook, DIM and I discuss antivirals at length over at the natural and alternative threads. And Bob, you're invited to come and play on the antiviral threads Don't let these guys bully you around.


AC

Since I operate on a very simplistic level (Remember, I'm the one with the obsession with insulin!), please allow me one question: Do these viruses cause mucus? I am eternally trying to find a connection between my chronic sinusitis and my MS, a friend's nasal allergies and her MS, others' flare-ups following colds/ flu/viruses. (I think this mucus is connected to excess insulin.)

Hi LyndaCarol...

Here's a good, easy to understand description of the difference between bacteria and a virus-
http://cubanology.com/Articles/Virus_vs_Bacteria.htm

Most sinusitis is caused by a bacterial infection, not a virus....
HOWEVER, I have found some research that says the influenza virus predisposes to sinusitis (in ferrets!).

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articl ... id=1459735

My hubby has chronic inflamed sinuses, and continual drainage. He's been using Sino-Fresh spray, and is much better.
Not sure about an insulin connection to mucus, but I do know that alot of folks with MS have sinus issues.

AC

Bob, I was kidding about the smoldering infection comment. I've never heard the phrase, but the image of smoke coming off of internal organs isn't really pretty.

I like the small pile of data that seems to accumulating in support of an interaction between the herpes viruses and endogenous retroviruses. It's still unclear to me exactly what role they play though. Some of the research makes it look like they get the ball rolling, but they might not actually cause the ongoing damage. The researchers don't seem sure about that though. Then there is the failure of the clinical trial of valacyclovir.

I'm under the impression that it is tricky to test for the presence of viruses, or they can reactivate then go dormant (is that the word?), so knowing exactly what trouble they are causing in MS is going to take some doing. Maybe we need better imaging so that they can watch the viruses do their thing in vivo? Is that possible?

There are many natural antivirals available say monolaurin, N-acetyl cysteine, inosine, tocotrienols (gamma & delta from palm oil), sea cucumber (Cucumaria japonica), coumarins from lemon peal, DHEA (preferable 7-keto DHEA), Ecinacea purpurea and Panax ginseng, tea tree oil, olive leaf extract etc even the Polygala root extract (that promotes nerve regeneration) we discuss these days have mild antiviral properties!

.

HHV travels through the nervous system and delivers lesions via the axon. Whether or not it is a key component in developing MS, it is hard not to wonder about a virus that shares identical pathways. Does anyone know of any studies with a suspected link or that MS is actually a virus?
Lars
<edit> OK, poorly written question! Obviously the previously posted Web sites are studies linking the two. I guess the 2nd part of the question was more to the point. If MS is viral in nature it would explain a lot about the difficulty in treating it.

Just stumbled on this link to EBV:
(Bob, let me know how behind I am on this one)
Lars

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/news/n ... spx?nid=66