(Press-News.org) In multiple sclerosis (MS), antibodies to the common Epstein-Barr virus can accidentally attack a protein in the brain and spinal cord. New research shows that the combination of certain viral antibodies and genetic risk factors can be linked to a greatly increased risk of MS. The study has been published in the journal PNAS and led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and Stanford University School of Medicine, USA.
An estimated 90 to 95 percent of adults are carriers of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and have formed antibodies against it. Many become infected as children with few or no symptoms, but in young adults, the virus can cause glandular fever. After infection, the virus remains in the body in a dormant (latent) phase without active virus production.
Attacking a protein in the brain
Everyone affected by the neurological disease MS, where the immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord, is a carrier of EBV. However, the mechanisms behind the association are not fully understood.
Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Stanford Medicine have confirmed that antibodies to an EBV protein called EBNA1 can inadvertently react with a similar protein in the brain called GlialCAM, which probably contributes to the development of MS. The new study also shows how different combinations of antibodies and genetic risk factors for MS contribute to the risk increase.
“A better understanding of these mechanisms may ultimately lead to better diagnostic tools and treatments for MS,” says Tomas Olsson, professor of neurology at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, who led the research there with professor Ingrid Kockum and assistant professor Olivia Thomas.
The researchers analysed blood samples from 650 MS patients and 661 healthy people. They compared the levels of antibodies directed against the viral protein EBNA1 and the levels of misdirected antibodies against GlialCAM and two other proteins in the brain, ANO2 and CRYAB, which are also similar to EBNA1.
Increased levels of antibodies
Elevated levels of all these antibodies were detected in people with MS. High antibody levels in combination with a genetic risk factor for MS (HLA-DRB1*15:01) were associated with a further increase in risk. The absence of a protective gene variant (HLA-A*02:01) in combination with any of the antibodies against proteins in the brain was also associated with a strong increase in risk.
“The new findings provide another piece of the puzzle that adds to our understanding of how genetic and immunological factors interact in MS,” says Lawrence Steinman, professor of neurology at Stanford Medicine, who led the research there with William Robinson, professor of immunology and rheumatology, and Tobias Lanz, assistant professor of immunology and rheumatology.
Biomarker potential
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now plan to analyse samples collected before MS disease development to see when these antibodies appear.
“If they are already present before the onset of the disease, they may have the potential to be used as biomarkers for early diagnosis,” says Tomas Olsson.
The research was funded by the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Brain Foundation, the EU/Horizon Europe, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the Margaretha af Ugglas Foundation, among others. Tomas Olsson and Lawrence Steinman have received lecture and advisory board fees from several companies. William Robinson and Tobias Lanz are stockholders and consultants of Ebvio and Flatiron Bio and have filed a patent with Stanford University. See the scientific article for a complete list of conflicts of interest.
Publication: “Antibody reactivity against EBNA1 and GlialCAM differentiates multiple sclerosis patients from healthy controls”, Neda Sattarnezhad, Ingrid Kockum, Olivia G. Thomas, Yicong Liu, Peggy P. Ho, Alison K. Barrett, Alexandros I. Comanescu, Tilini U. Wijeratne , Paul J. Utz, Lars Alfredsson, Lawrence Steinman, William H. Robinson, Tomas Olsson, Tobias V. Lanz, PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), online 10 March 2025, doi: 10.1073/pnas.2424986122.
END
Genes combined with immune response to Epstein-Barr virus increase MS risk
2025-03-10
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Proximity and prejudice: Gay discrimination in the gig economy
2025-03-10
University of Queensland research has found discrimination based on sexual orientation is common in the gig economy, but only for tasks requiring close physical proximity.
Dr David Smerdon, Dr Samuel Pearson and Dr Sabina Albrecht ran an experiment on a popular online marketplace involving more than 1,100 job posts across 6 Australian cities.
“To test whether workers discriminate against gay men, we created hundreds of fictitious male ‘requester’ profiles, with some clearly signalling they were gay by referring to their male partner or with a couple profile photo,” Dr Pearson said.
“The requested tasks were either inside the home – such as moving ...
New paper suggests cold temperatures trigger shapeshifting proteins
2025-03-10
Metamorphic proteins can be thought of as the “shapeshifters” of human, animal and bacterial cells. Their ability to drastically switch between two different shapes enables them to adapt to changing environments and carry out diverse functions.
Little is known about how metamorphic proteins transform despite their usefulness in living organisms. To help tackle this mystery, a new paper in the “Perspectives” section of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) offers a “bold theory,” said co-author John Orban, a professor in the University of Maryland’s Department ...
Reproductive justice–driven pregnancy interventions can improve mental health
2025-03-10
March 10, 2025 — Perinatal interventions guided by reproductive justice principles can have positive effects on the perinatal mental health of Black birthing patients and, perhaps, the mental health development of their infants, states a systematic review published in a special issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry, part of the Lippincott portfolio from Wolters Kluwer.
Mental health interventions incorporating reproductive justice principles "utilize a trauma-informed approach to address the psychosocial stress and trauma of racism and their negative effects on pregnant parents and offspring," Cristiane S. Duarte, PhD, MPH, of Columbia University ...
Intranasal herpes infection may produce neurobehavioral symptoms, UIC study finds
2025-03-10
Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) is commonly known for causing blisters and sores. But in some cases, the virus can migrate to the eye or nervous system, causing severe, chronic symptoms.
Now, a study from University of Illinois Chicago researchers finds that herpes infection through the nose can lead to anxiety, motor impairment and cognitive issues. The research is the first to show that, by exploiting a cellular enzyme, the virus can produce behavioral symptoms. The finding emphasizes the need for prevention and treatment of a virus carried by billions of people worldwide.
The research, published in mBio, is the latest from the College of Medicine group ...
Developing treatment strategies for an understudied bladder disease
2025-03-10
Despite its increasing prevalence, a painful condition called bladder pain syndrome, or interstitial cystitis, remains understudied with limited treatment options. In a new eNeuro paper, Min-Zhi Su and colleagues, from Sun Yat Sen University, used a rat model of bladder pain syndrome to explore if electroacupuncture can alleviate pain and improve bladder function. Electroacupuncture nerve stimulation therapy has shown promise in treating conditions like Huntington’s disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, but researchers have not explored its utility in this context. The researchers discovered that this ...
Investigating how decision-making and behavioral control develop
2025-03-10
Many psychiatric disorders are linked to altered functioning of brain networks that drive reward processing and executive functions like making decisions, taking risks, planning, and memory. But a better understanding of how these networks typically develop to support reward-related executive functions is needed. New in JNeurosci, Samuel Klein and Monica Luciana, from the University of Minnesota, led a longitudinal study to explore how brain networks for reward processing and executive functioning ...
Rutgers researchers revive decades-old pregnancy cohort with modern scientific potential
2025-03-10
The Camden Study, a pregnancy cohort of 4,765 women recruited between 1985 and 2006 from one of America’s poorest cities, has found new life at Rutgers University – where it promises to unlock critical insights into maternal and child health for researchers worldwide.
According to a recent paper in Nutrients, the project was designed to study nutritional status in adolescent pregnancies but expanded into a comprehensive repository of maternal and infant health data that yielded more than a decade of significant ...
Rising CO2 likely to speed decrease in ‘space sustainability’
2025-03-10
Currently more than 8,000 satellites are orbiting at altitudes of between 300 and 1000 km in the Earth’s upper atmosphere – also called the thermosphere. While changes in space weather, such as coronal mass ejections and solar flares, can cause temporary changes in the density of this region, scientists at the University of Birmingham suggest the effects caused by global warming are likely to be much longer term.
This is because of the effects caused by greenhouse gases (GHGs) ...
Study: Climate change will reduce the number of satellites that can safely orbit in space
2025-03-10
MIT aerospace engineers have found that greenhouse gas emissions are changing the environment of near-Earth space in ways that, over time, will reduce the number of satellites that can sustainably operate there.
In a study that will appear in Nature Sustainability, the researchers report that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases can cause the upper atmosphere to shrink. An atmospheric layer of special interest is the thermosphere, where the International Space Station and most satellites orbit today. When the thermosphere contracts, the decreasing density reduces atmospheric drag— a force that pulls old satellites and other debris down to altitudes where they will ...
Mysterious phenomenon at center of galaxy could reveal new kind of dark matter
2025-03-10
A mysterious phenomenon at the centre of our galaxy could be the result of a different type of dark matter.
Dark matter, the mysterious form of unobserved matter which could make up 85% of the mass of the known universe, is one of science’s biggest manhunts.
In this first of its kind study, scientists have taken a step closer to understanding the elusive mystery matter. They believe a reimagined candidate for dark matter could be behind unexplained chemical reactions taking place in the Milky Way.
Dr Shyam Balaji, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at King’s College London and one of the lead authors of the study explains, “At the ...