I found your old post from 2015 by searching for TLR9, which stands for Toll Like Receptor 9. The study you quoted and linked to seems related to this recent article in Scientific American titled:
Brain’s Dumped DNA May Lead to Stress, Depression
New research suggests genetic material from the mitochondria can trigger an immune response throughout the body
By Knvul Sheikh on September 13, 2018
My amature interpretation of this article is that apparently stress causes mitocondria to release mitochondrial DNA material into the bloodstream that can be interpretted as foreign invaders by the immune system, setting off an inflammatory, autoimmune reaction.
This matches my own situation where I became symptomatic and was diagnosed with MS during an extremely stressful period of my life.
If only it were possible to avoid stress!
Here's a link to the Scientific American article followed by a few quotes from the article:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... epression/
Each of our cells contains hundreds of small bean-shaped mitochondria — subcellular structures, or organelles, that provide the energy needed for normal functioning. Mitochondria have their own circular genome with 37 genes. We inherit this mitochondrial DNA only from our mothers, so the makeup of the DNA’s code stays relatively consistent from one generation to the next.
But our fight-or-flight response places extreme demands on the mitochondria. All of a sudden, they need to produce much more energy to fuel a faster heartbeat, expanding lungs and tensing muscles, which leaves them vulnerable to damage. Unlike DNA in the cell’s nucleus, though, mitochondria have limited repair mechanisms. And recent animal studies have shown chronic stress not only leads to mitochondrial damage in brain regions such as the hippocampus, hypothalamus and cortex, it also results in mitochondria releasing their DNA into the cell cytoplasm, and eventually into the blood.
...researchers demonstrated the way mitochondrial DNA, when released into the blood after an injury, mobilized a pro-inflammatory immune response. Because of mitochondria’s bacterial origin and its circular DNA structure, immune cells think it’s a foreign invader. When circulating mitochondrial DNA binds to a particular receptor, TLR9, on immune cells, they respond as if they were reacting to a foreign invader such as a flu virus or an infected wound. The immune cells release chemicals called cytokines telling other white blood cells they need to report for duty at sites of infection, inflammation or trauma.
The whole article is good, and I think its important to figuring out what triggers relapses and causes MS. Since it involves the blood stream, I also wonder if it could be related to CCSVI.