Clinical parameters and HHV-6 active replication in relapsing—remitting multiple sclerosis patients

Although the etiology of multiple sclerosis (MS) remains uncertain, clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory findings suggest that environmental factors may be involved in the disease. This study was undertaken in order to investigate the possible relation of human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) in relapsin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of clinical virology 2006-12, Vol.37, p.S24-S26
Main Authors: Álvarez-Lafuente, Roberto, García-Montojo, Marta, De Las Heras, Virginia, Bartolomé, Manuel, Arroyo, Rafael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
DNA, Viral - blood
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Herpesvirus 6, Human - isolation & purification
Herpesvirus 6, Human - physiology
HHV-6
Human viral diseases
Humans
Infectious diseases
Male
Medical sciences
Microbiology
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting - physiopathology
Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting - virology
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Quantitative PCR
Relapse
Roseolovirus Infections - virology
Serum
Viral diseases
Viral Load
Virology
Virus Replication
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Summary:Although the etiology of multiple sclerosis (MS) remains uncertain, clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory findings suggest that environmental factors may be involved in the disease. This study was undertaken in order to investigate the possible relation of human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). A one-year follow-up study was performed analyzing serum samples of 63 patients with RRMS and 63 healthy blood donors (HBD) by a quantitative real time PCR, to measure HHV-6 prevalence and viral load. Clinical data (starting age and EDSS increase) were collected. (i) We found 25.4% of RRMS patients with at least one positive serum sample along the one year follow-up. (ii) 19.1% of RRMS samples in relapse had HHV-6 active infection vs. 7.9% of RRMS samples in remission. (iii) We only found variant A. (iv) RRMS patients with HHV-6 active replication initiated the disease 1.9 years earlier, and they had a higher EDSS increase. A higher HHV-6A frequency of active infection seems to be related with the exacerbations in a subset of RRMS patients. Regarding the relationship between HHV-6A active infection and the clinical data in RRMS patients, further investigations are needed.
ISSN:1386-6532
1873-5967
DOI:10.1016/S1386-6532(06)70007-5