(Image: Pixabay CC0)
(Image: Pixabay CC0) - Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease in which the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is thought to play a role that has not yet been fully clarified. In particular, it was previously unclear why almost all people are infected with EBV in the course of their lives, but the virus only triggers MS in a small number of people. A team of scientists from the Centre for Virology and the Department of Neurology at the Medical University of Vienna has now succeeded in identifying several mechanisms that protect people from an EBV-induced autoimmune reaction and thus potentially from MS. The study, recently published in the top journal "Cell", suggests possible targets for the development of a vaccine to protect against MS. The underlying cause of MS has not yet been fully clarified, but a connection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has long been suspected. In most patients who develop MS, specific immune responses against EBV are detectable, which are also directed against certain structures of the central nervous system and thus contribute to the development of MS. Until now, however, it was unclear why an EBV infection, one of the most common and lifelong persistent viral infections in humans, only leads to MS in a small number of people.
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