Background: Natalizumab, which is efficient in preventing relapses and progression of

EBV has been consistently associated with MS, but its signature in the CNS has rarely been examined. In this study, we assessed EBV-specific humoral and cellular immune responses in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with early MS, other inflammatory neurological diseases (OIND) and non-inflammatory neurological diseases (NIND). The neurotropic herpesvirus CMV served as a control. Virus-specific humoral immune responses were assessed in 123 consecutive patients and the intrathecal recruitment of virus-specific antibodies was expressed as antibody indexes. Cellular immune responses tested in the blood of 55/123 patients were positive in 46/55. The CD8 1 CTL responses of these 46 patients were assessed in the blood and CSF using a CFSE-based CTL assay. We found that viral capsid antigen and EBV-encoded nuclear antigen-1, but not CMV IgG antibody indexes, were increased in early MS as compared with OIND and NIND patients. There was also intrathecal enrichment in EBV-, but not CMV-specific, CD8 1 CTL in early MS patients. By contrast, OIND and NIND patients did not recruit EBV-nor CMV-specific CD8 1 CTL in the CSF. Our data, showing a high EBV-, but not CMV-specific intrathecal immune response, strengthen the association between EBV and MS, in particular at the onset of the disease.

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The fate of the vulval cells in Caenorhabditis elegans is specified, at least in part, through a highly conserved RTK/Ras mediated signaling cascade that negatively regulates the activity of the ETS-like transcription factor LIN-1. The Hox gene lin-39 functions downstream of both, the LIN-3/RTK/Ras pathway and LIN-1 and plays a pivotal role in controlling vulva cell competence and induction. Here we show that LET-418, a C. elegans ortholog of the human NuRD component Mi-2, negatively modulates the activity of lin-39. LET-418 interacts in vivo with specific regions in the promoter of lin-39 and this interaction depends on LIN-1. Our data provide evidence for a model in which LIN-1 recruits LET-418/Mi-2 as co-repressor to the promoter of lin-39, thereby restricting its activity to the basal levels required in the vulva precursor cells (VPCs) for normal vulval development. Thus, our data suggest that the interaction between LIN-1 and LET-418/Mi-2 may link RTK/Ras signaling with chromatin remodeling and gene expression.

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