Active Human Herpesvirus 6 Infection in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Despite the low viral load and the lack of clinical correlation, and given the biological characteristics of the virus, our results suggest that there was active HHV-6A infection in 14.6% of patients with MS. Further quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction studies will help us understand the clinical significance of such a low viral load.

Human herpesvirus 6 infects the central nervous system of multiple sclerosis patients in the early stages of the disease

“…Only HHV-6B was found in the blood of MS patients, in contrast to what has been presented by others. 30,31 However, the results are in agreement with the prevalence of HHV-6 variants in the Italian population, where HHV-6B is significantly more frequently detected in PBMCs than HHV-6A. In fact, we previously reported that HHV-6B is present in about 20% of PBMC samples from healthy donors (23/98), but that HHV-6A accounts for only about 7% of positive PBMC samples.…”

Human herpesvirus 6 infects the central nervous system of multiple sclerosis patients in the early stages of the disease

“…Only HHV-6B was found in the blood of MS patients, in contrast to what has been presented by others. 30,31 However, the results are in agreement with the prevalence of HHV-6 variants in the Italian population, where HHV-6B is significantly more frequently detected in PBMCs than HHV-6A. In fact, we previously reported that HHV-6B is present in about 20% of PBMC samples from healthy donors (23/98), but that HHV-6A accounts for only about 7% of positive PBMC samples.…”

Human herpesvirus 6 and effectiveness of interferon beta 1b in multiple sclerosis patients

“…In our study, HHV‐6 has been detected in blood from up to 64.8% of patients with MS and in serum from 18.5% of patients, which coincides with our previous results [34,35]. It must be noticed that our technique for HHV‐6 detection by PCR has been validated in a multicentric study [36].…”

Environment–gene interaction in multiple sclerosis: Human herpesvirus 6 and MHC2TA

“…However, more than 15% of the MS patients have detectable levels of viral particles in their serum, a surrogate marker of ongoing replication [6,7]. It has been even postulated that HHV-6 might be the etiologic MS agent, at least in those minority of cases.…”

Human herpesvirus 6 infects the central nervous system of multiple sclerosis patients in the early stages of the disease

“…Only HHV-6B was found in the blood of MS patients, in contrast to what has been presented by others. 30,31 However, the results are in agreement with the prevalence of HHV-6 variants in the Italian population, where HHV-6B is significantly more frequently detected in PBMCs than HHV-6A. In fact, we previously reported that HHV-6B is present in about 20% of PBMC samples from healthy donors (23/98), but that HHV-6A accounts for only about 7% of positive PBMC samples.…”

Human herpesvirus 6 and effectiveness of interferon beta 1b in multiple sclerosis patients

“…In our study, HHV‐6 has been detected in blood from up to 64.8% of patients with MS and in serum from 18.5% of patients, which coincides with our previous results [34,35]. It must be noticed that our technique for HHV‐6 detection by PCR has been validated in a multicentric study [36].…”

Environment–gene interaction in multiple sclerosis: Human herpesvirus 6 and MHC2TA

“…However, more than 15% of the MS patients have detectable levels of viral particles in their serum, a surrogate marker of ongoing replication [6,7]. It has been even postulated that HHV-6 might be the etiologic MS agent, at least in those minority of cases.…”

Human herpesvirus 6 infects the central nervous system of multiple sclerosis patients in the early stages of the disease

“…Only HHV-6B was found in the blood of MS patients, in contrast to what has been presented by others. 30,31 However, the results are in agreement with the prevalence of HHV-6 variants in the Italian population, where HHV-6B is significantly more frequently detected in PBMCs than HHV-6A. In fact, we previously reported that HHV-6B is present in about 20% of PBMC samples from healthy donors (23/98), but that HHV-6A accounts for only about 7% of positive PBMC samples.…”

Human herpesvirus 6 and effectiveness of interferon beta 1b in multiple sclerosis patients

“…In our study, HHV‐6 has been detected in blood from up to 64.8% of patients with MS and in serum from 18.5% of patients, which coincides with our previous results [34,35]. It must be noticed that our technique for HHV‐6 detection by PCR has been validated in a multicentric study [36].…”

Environment–gene interaction in multiple sclerosis: Human herpesvirus 6 and MHC2TA

“…However, more than 15% of the MS patients have detectable levels of viral particles in their serum, a surrogate marker of ongoing replication [6,7]. It has been even postulated that HHV-6 might be the etiologic MS agent, at least in those minority of cases.…”