ArticleThe Journal of clinical investigation1997
An increased prevalence of Epstein-Barr virus infection in young patients suggests a possible etiology for systemic lupus erythematosus.
Article in The Journal of clinical investigation, 1997. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 175 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
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
175 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 513 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trans-eQTL mapping prioritises USP18 as a negative regulator of interferon response at a lupus risk locus.Nature communications · 2025Pooled it
- The risk of systemic lupus erythematosus associated with Epstein-Barr virus infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of the sero-epidemiological association between Epstein-Barr virus and systemic lupus erythematosus.Arthritis research & therapy · 2014Pooled it
- Article
- Systematic investigation reveals extensive Epstein-Barr virus transcriptional regulation of the human genome.Cell genomics · 2026Article
- Article
- From Genes to Pathways: The Molecular Landscape of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- A CRISPR-Cas9 screen Reveals STEEP1 as a Key Host Dependency Factor for Epstein-Barr Virus Latent Membrane Protein 1 Trafficking and Signaling.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Multiple molecular mimics in Epstein Barr Nuclear Antigen-1, and the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Type I interferon drives dysfunction of a distinct CD8+ HLA-DRB1+ T cell subset in systemic lupus erythematosus.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- A case of lupus nephritis in an art student.Clinical nephrology. Case studies · 2026Article
- IgA nephropathy: a novel pathway in immunopathogenesis dependent on the timing of Epstein-Barr virus infection.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Interferon-λ-neutralizing autoantibodies and common autoimmune disease autoantibodies in pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Epstein-Barr virus reprograms autoreactive B cells as antigen-presenting cells in systemic lupus erythematosus.Science translational medicine · 2025Article
- A survey of pathogenic involvement in non-communicable human diseases.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- Multiple sclerosis and infection: history, EBV, and the search for mechanism.Microbiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2025Review
- Autoimmune disease: genetic susceptibility, environmental triggers, and immune dysregulation. Where can we develop therapies?Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Epstein-Barr virus as a potentiator of autoimmune diseases.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2024Review
- Evidence that autoantibody production may be driven by acute Epstein-Barr virus infection in Sjögren's disease.Annals of the rheumatic diseases · 2024Article
- Epstein-Barr Viruses: Their Immune Evasion Strategies and Implications for Autoimmune Diseases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
115 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
An unknown environmental agent has been suspected to induce systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus) in man. Prompted by our recent immunochemical findings, we sought evidence for an association between Epstein-Barr virus infection and lupus. Because the vast majority of adults have been infected with Epstein-Barr virus, we chose to study children and young adults. Virtually all (116 of 117, or 99%) of these young patients had seroconverted against Epstein-Barr virus, as compared with only 70% (107 of 153) of their controls (odds ratio 49.9, 95% confidence interval 9.3-1025, P < 0. 00000000001). The difference in the rate of Epstein-Barr virus seroconversion could not be explained by serum IgG level or by cross-reacting anti-Sm/nRNP autoantibodies. No similar difference was found in the seroconversion rates against four other herpes viruses. An assay for Epstein-Barr viral DNA in peripheral blood lymphocytes established Epstein-Barr virus infection in the peripheral blood of all 32 of the lupus patients tested, while only 23 of the 32 matched controls were infected (odds ratio > 10, 95% confidence interval 2.53-infinity, P < 0.002). When considered with other evidence supporting a relationship between Epstein-Barr virus and lupus, these data are consistent with, but do not in themselves establish, Epstein-Barr virus infection as an etiologic factor in lupus.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.