Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROPATHOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL NEUROLOGY
Volume 69, Issue 7, Pages 677-693Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1097/NEN.0b013e3181e332ec
Keywords
B-lymphocytes; Cytokines; Epstein-Barr virus; Laser-capture microdissection; Multiple sclerosis
Categories
Funding
- Italian Multiple Sclerosis Foundation
- Istituto Superiore di Sanita
- National Institutes of Health
- European Union [LSHM-CT-2005-01863]
- Italian Ministry of Health
- Ricerca Finalizzata [2007]
- Medical Research Council [G0700356] Funding Source: researchfish
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A cardinal feature of multiple sclerosis (MS) is the persistent intrathecal synthesis of antibodies. Our previous finding that a large fraction of B cells infiltrating the MS brain are infected with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) raises the possibility that this virus, because of its ability to establish a latent infection in B cells and interfere with their differentiation, contributes to B-cell dysregulation in MS. The aim of this study was to gain further insight into EBV latency programs and their relationship to B-cell activation in the MS brain. Immunohistochemical analysis of postmortem MS brain samples harboring large EBV deposits revealed that most B cells in white matter lesions, meninges, and ectopic B-cell follicles are CD27(+) antigen-experienced cells and coexpress latent membrane protein 1 and latent membrane protein 2A, 2 EBV-encoded proteins that provide survival and maturation signals to B cells. By combining laser-capture microdissection with preamplification reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction techniques, EBV latency transcripts (latent membrane protein 2A, EBV nuclear antigen 1) were detected in all MS brain samples analyzed. We also found that B cell-activating factor of the tumor necrosis factor family is expressed in EBV-infected B cells in acute MS lesions and ectopic B-cell follicles. These findings support a role for EBV infection in B-cell activation in the MS brain and suggest that B cell-activating factor of the tumor necrosis factor family produced by EBV-infected B cells may contribute to this process resulting in viral persistence and, possibly, disruption of B-cell tolerance.
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