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Multiple Sclerosis, Vol. 14, No. 5, 595-601 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1352458507086425

research-article

Herpesviruses and human endogenous retroviral sequences in the cerebrospinal fluid of multiple sclerosis patients

R Álvarez-Lafuente

Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid 28040, Spain, labesmul{at}hcsc.es

M García-Montojo

Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid 28040, Spain

V De Las Heras

Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid 28040, Spain

MI Domínguez-Mozo

Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid 28040, Spain

M Bartolome

Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid 28040, Spain

MS Benito-Martin

Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid 28040, Spain

R Arroyo

Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid 28040, Spain

Objective

To analyze the possible role of human herpesvirus (HHVs) and human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) infection in multiple sclerosis (MS) pathogenesis.

Methods

A total of 92 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were collected: 48 from MS patients at the first clinically evident demyelinating event, 23 from patients with other inflammatory neurological diseases (OINDs) and 21 from patients with other non-inflammatory neurological diseases (ONINDs). Total DNA and RNA were isolated, and the prevalences and viral loads of herpes simplex virus (HSV), varicella-zoster virus (VZV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), HHV-6, HERV-H and HERV-W in the CSF of MS patients and controls were evaluated using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay.

Results

(i) For HSV, 1/48 (2.1%, 86 copies/ml of CSF) MS patients and 1/23 (4.3%, 115.2 copies/ml of CSF) OIND patients (a myelitis case) had HSV sequences in the CSF; (ii) for EBV, only 1/48 (2.1%, 72 copies/ml of CSF) MS patients was positive for EBV; (iii) for HHV-6, only 5/48 (10.4%) MS patients had HHV-6 genomes in their CSF (128.1 copies/ml of CSF); (iv) we did not find any positive cases for VZV, CMV, HERV-H and HERV-W among MS patients or controls; (v) no cases of co-infections were found; (vi) the whole prevalence of HHVs was 7/48 (14.6%) for MS patients and 1/44 (2.3%) for controls (p = 0.038).

Conclusion

The findings described here show that HHV infection is more frequent in the CSF of MS patients than in patients with other neurological diseases; however, only HHV-6 seems to be involved in the pathogenesis of MS in a subset of patients.

Key Words: cerebospinal fluid • herpes virus • human endogenous retroviral sequences • multiple sclerosis • quantitative polymerase chain reaction


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