BREWER JH, KNOX KK, CARRIGAN DR; Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

Abstr Intersci Conf Antimicrob Agents Chemother Intersci Conf Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1999 Sep 26-29; 39: 441 (abstract no. 1960).

Infectious Diseases

BACKGROUND: Results from several laboratories have indicted HHV-6 as a possible cause of MS. Our laboratory has previously reported active infections in the blood and lymphoid and CNS tissues of patients with MS. The cells actively infected with HHV-6 in the CNS tissues were highly associated (p < 0.0001) with areas of active demyelinative disease.METHODS: Blood samples from a cross-sectional sample of 41 patients with MS were assessed for active HHV-6 infection by a rapid culture assay. Results were correlated with selected clinical characteristics of the patients.RESULTS: Peripheral blood leukocytes from 22 of the 41 patients (54%) with MS were positive for HHV-6 infection compared with 0 of 61 normal control subjects (p < 0.0001 by two-sided Fisher's exact test). When compared for type of disease (relapsing/ remitting or progressive) or for sex, no significant differences were found between HHV-6 positive and HHV-6 negative MS patients. In contrast, the patients with active HHV-6 infections in their peripheral blood were found to be younger (mean age of 41.5 years versus 49.6 years; p < 0.02 by Mann Whitney test) and to have a shorter duration of disease (mean of 7.5 years versus 14.9 years; p < 0.002 by Mann Whitney test) than the HHV-6 negative patients.CONCLUSIONS: These results support our hypothesis that chronic, active HHV-6 infections serve as a trigger for MS in patients predisposed toward its development by genetic or other factors. In this model, CNS damage is initially mediated by the active HHV-6 infection. Then, long-term (7 to 10 years) chronic antigenic stimulation by the HHV-6 infection leads to a new disease mechanism in which the patient's immune system attacks the CNS either through an immunopathologic or autoimmune mechanism. A ntigenic cross-reactivity between HHV-6 proteins and myelin antigens may be involved.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Animals
• Central Nervous System
• Herpesvirus 6, Human
• Humans
• Infection
• Leukocytes
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Simplexvirus
• Viremia
• blood
• cerebrospinal fluid

Other ID:

• GWAIDS0008152

UI: 102245649

From Meeting Abstracts