ArticleBrain : a journal of neurology2009
Epstein-Barr virus infection is not a characteristic feature of multiple sclerosis brain.
Article in Brain : a journal of neurology, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 131 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
131 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Repurposing Licensed Drugs with Activity Against Epstein-Barr Virus for Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis: A Systematic Approach.CNS drugs · 2025Pooled it
- An updated meta-analysis of risk of multiple sclerosis following infectious mononucleosis.PloS one · 2010Pooled it
- Multiple Sclerosis and Viruses: « Liaisons Dangereuses ».Reviews in medical virology · 2026Review
- Interpreting Viral Associations in Neurodegenerative Diseases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Epstein-Barr Virus and Multiple Sclerosis: Mechanistic Insights into Virus-Driven Autoimmunity.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- CD4Science translational medicine · 2026Article
- Epstein-Barr virus receptors: classification, functional mechanisms, and pathogenic implications.Journal of virology · 2026Review
- Extracellular vesicles from wild-type Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B-cells export host DNA and EBV EBER1.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Why Is MS a More Frequent Complication of EBV Infection in Females?Immunological reviews · 2026Review
- Latent, Lytic, and Linked to Multiple Sclerosis-How EBV Drives Autoimmunity.European journal of immunology · 2026Review
- Review
- Intrathecally expanded GZMK+/GZMH+ CD8 T cells targeting EBV antigens may reduce severity of Multiple Sclerosis.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Multiple sclerosis and infection: history, EBV, and the search for mechanism.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- Multiple sclerosis: etiology in the context of neurovascular unit and immune system involvement and advancements withFrontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Tertiary Lymphoid Structures in Central Nervous System Disorders.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025Review
- Epstein-Barr virus as a potentiator of autoimmune diseases.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2024Review
- Coeliac disease as a model for understanding multiple sclerosis.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2024Review
- Epstein-Barr Virus in the Cerebrospinal Fluid and Blood Compartments of Patients With Multiple Sclerosis and Controls.Neurology(R) neuroimmunology & neuroinflammation · 2024Article
- EBV infection drives MS pathology: No.Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England) · 2024Article
- Expanded T lymphocytes in the cerebrospinal fluid of multiple sclerosis patients are specific for Epstein-Barr-virus-infected B cells.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
71 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that is thought to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. To date, considerable evidence has associated Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection with disease development. However, it remains controversial whether EBV infects multiple sclerosis brain and contributes directly to CNS immunopathology. To assess whether EBV infection is a characteristic feature of multiple sclerosis brain, a large cohort of multiple sclerosis specimens containing white matter lesions (nine adult and three paediatric cases) with a heterogeneous B cell infiltrate and a second cohort of multiple sclerosis specimens (12 cases) that included B cell infiltration within the meninges and parenchymal B cell aggregates, were examined for EBV infection using multiple methodologies including in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry and two independent real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methodologies that detect genomic EBV or the abundant EBV encoded RNA (EBER) 1, respectively. We report that EBV could not be detected in any of the multiple sclerosis specimens containing white matter lesions by any of the methods employed, yet EBV was readily detectable in multiple Epstein-Barr virus-positive control tissues including several CNS lymphomas. Furthermore, EBV was not detected in our second cohort of multiple sclerosis specimens by in situ hybridization. However, our real-time PCR methodologies, which were capable of detecting very few EBV infected cells, detected EBV at low levels in only 2 of the 12 multiple sclerosis meningeal specimens examined. Our finding that CNS EBV infection was rare in multiple sclerosis brain indicates that EBV infection is unlikely to contribute directly to multiple sclerosis brain pathology in the vast majority of cases.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.