Determination of the association between Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and Multiple sclerosis (MS) disease

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, demyelinating disease of the CNS in which autoimmunity to myelin plays a role in pathogenesis. Infection with common viruses, particularly EpsteinBarr virus (EBV), is postulated to contribute to the pathobiology of MS. Epidemiological studies suggest an association between infection with EBV and risk of MS. To characterize the IgG antibody to the EBV capsid antigen (EBV VCA), we investigated in a group of 21 patients with MS and 105 age and sex matched controls from Kahrizak. Material and Methods: The prevalence of anti-EBV VCA IgG was measured by three tests that comprise two Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and one Indirect Immunfluorescence assay (IFA). The data as mean, percentages and graphs were reported and Student t-test analysis was performed. SPSS software, 15th version, was used for this purpose. Results: By Indirect Immunfluorescence assay (IFA), the seropositivity rate of anti-EBV VCA IgG in MS patients was 100%, compared with 93.5% in controls. Both our home made ELISA VCA IgG and commercial ELISA VCA IgG kit display in MS patients group 95.2%, compared with 90.4% and 91.4% respectively by two ELISA test in controls group. In ELISA tests, optical density of serum samples was significantly higher in MS patients than in controls. In addition to, in the IFA assay the percentage of positive fluorescent cells with serum samples from MS patients was greater compared to the control group. Conclusion: The results suggest that EBV has a significant seroepidemiologic association with MS.