ArticlePloS one2018
Epstein-Barr virus is present in the brain of most cases of multiple sclerosis and may engage more than just B cells.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 90 papers.
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Who cites it
90 citing papers in PubMed, 152 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multiple Sclerosis and Viruses: « Liaisons Dangereuses ».Reviews in medical virology · 2026Review
- Sequence Variation of Epstein-Barr Virus EBNA-1 Gene in Central Nervous System Inflammatory Demyelinating Diseases in Pakistan.Journal of neuroimmune pharmacology : the official journal of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology · 2026Article
- Epstein-Barr Virus and Multiple Sclerosis: Mechanistic Insights into Virus-Driven Autoimmunity.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Glial cells in chronic inflammation: diversity, dysfunction and therapeutic targeting.Nature reviews. Immunology · 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
- Ruxolitinib Penetrates Blood Brain Barrier and Reduces the Cytokine Storm in Patients With Haemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis.Journal of cellular and molecular medicine · 2026Article
- Differential distribution of antiviral serology across multiple sclerosis phenotypes and its implications for disease pathogenesis.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- EBV Dysregulation Is Associated With Immune Imbalance in Multiple Sclerosis: Evidence From Integrated Viral and Host Analyses.Neurology(R) neuroimmunology & neuroinflammation · 2026Article
- Epstein-barr virus and multiple sclerosis: from pathogenesis and diagnosis to EBV-specific T cell therapy and gene-targeted therapeutics.Journal of applied genetics · 2026Review
- Modulation of the immunological and neuroinflammatory microenvironment in older people with multiple sclerosis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Mechanisms of Epstein-Barr virus-associated autoimmunity: a comparative overview.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- EBV Early Lytic Antigens, EBNA2 and PDL-1, in Progressive Multiple Sclerosis Brain: A Coordinated Contribution to Viral Immune Evasion.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Longitudinal proteomic profiling of cerebrospinal fluid in untreated multiple sclerosis defines evolving disease biology.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Early antiviral treatment following gammaherpesvirus-68 infection of the central nervous system prevents subsequent multiple sclerosis-like disease.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- Intrathecally expanded GZMK+/GZMH+ CD8 T cells targeting EBV antigens may reduce severity of Multiple Sclerosis.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Unravelling the Viral Hypothesis of Schizophrenia: A Comprehensive Review of Mechanisms and Evidence.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Multiple sclerosis and infection: history, EBV, and the search for mechanism.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- Epstein-Barr virus and the immune microenvironment in multiple sclerosis: Insights from high-dimensional brain tissue imaging.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Epidemiology of Multiple Sclerosis: Global, Regional, National and Sub-National-Level Estimates and Future Projections.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2025Article
- Editorial: Viral infection pathogenesis and pathology in nervous system.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Article
30 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neuroinflammatory condition of the central nervous system (CNS). It is a major cause of neurological disability in young adults, particularly women. What triggers the destruction of myelin sheaths covering nerve fibres is unknown. Both genetic and infectious agents have been implicated. Of the infectious agents, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a common herpesvirus, has the strongest epidemiological and serological evidence. However, the presence of EBV in the CNS and demonstration of the underlying mechanism(s) linking EBV to the pathogenesis of MS remain to be elucidated. We aimed at understanding the contribution of EBV infection in the pathology of MS. We examined 1055 specimens (440 DNA samples and 615 brain tissues) from 101 MS and 21 non-MS cases for the presence of EBV using PCR and EBER-in situ hybridization (EBER-ISH). EBV was detected by PCR and/or EBER-ISH in 91/101 (90%) of MS cases compared to only 5/21 (24%) of non-MS cases with other neuropathologies. None of the samples were PCR positive for other common herpesviruses (HSV-1, CMV, HHV-6). By quantitative PCR, EBV viral load in MS brain was mainly low to moderate in most cases. However, in 18/101 (18%) of MS cases, widespread but scattered presence of EBV infected cells was noted in the affected tissues by EBER-ISH. Immunohistochemical analysis of EBV gene expression in the 18 heavily infected cases, revealed that the EBV latent protein EBNA1, and to a lesser extent the early lytic protein BZLF1 were expressed. Furthermore, using double-staining we show for the first time that astrocytes and microglia, in addition to B-cells can also be infected. To the best of our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive study demonstrating that EBV is present and transcriptionally active in the brain of most cases of MS and supports a role for the virus in MS pathogenesis. Further studies are required to address the mechanism of EBV involvement in MS pathology.
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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.