Epstein–Barr Virus and Cytomegalovirus in Autoimmune Diseases

Abstract

To date, it is believed that the origin of autoimmune diseases is one of a multifactorial background. A genetic predisposition, an immune system malfunction or even backfire, hormonal regulation, and environmental factors all play important roles in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. Among these environmental factors, the role of infection is known to be a major one. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) are considered to be notorious as they are consistently associated with multiple autoimmune diseases. A cohort of 1595 serum samples, of 23 different autoimmune disease groups, was screened for evidence of prior infection with EBV and CMV. All samples were screened for antibodies against EBV nuclear antigen-1 (IgG), EBV viral capsid antigen (IgG and IgM), EBV early antigen (IgG), EBV heterophile antibody, and CMV (IgG and IgM) antibodies using Bio-Rad's BioPlex 2200. A new association is proposed between EBV and polymyositis, as results show a significant increase in titers of various EBV target analytes when compared with healthy controls. Our results also support prior information suggesting the association between EBV and multiple autoimmune diseases, including SLE, antiphospholipid syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, pemphigus vulgaris, giant cell arthritis, Wegener's granulomatosis, and polyarteritis nodosa (PAN). Elevated CMV IgG titers were observed in sera of SLE patients. Our data support the theory that EBV is notoriously associated with many autoimmune diseases. CMV appears to be associated to autoimmune diseases as well, yet establishing this theory requires further investigation.

How does cytomegalovirus factor into diseases of aging and vaccine responses, and by what mechanisms?

“…Systemic lupus erythematosus Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have higher frequencies of CMV infection (Esen et al 2012) as well as higher CMV-specific IgG (Barzilai et al 2007), and in those SLE patients with higher CMV-specific IgG, higher amounts of serum autoantibodies were detected (Palafox Sanchez et al 2009). In this last study, it was also found that anti-CMV IgM positivity was associated with lower levels of autoantibodies specific for U1RNP/ Sm and U1-70 k as compared to anti-CMV IgG positivity, suggesting a role for CMV reactivation in the regulation of autoantibodies.…”

Recent Advances in the Treatment of Neurological Autoimmune Disorders

“…The next mechanism involves the over activation and indiscriminate expansion of self reactive T-cells that are initially considered to be inefficient but can cause the disease in the presence of elevated levels of cytokines. Finally, microbes express super antigens on their surfaces that are unique in coupling T-cells with MHC complexes irrespective of their relativities (Barzilai et al, 2007a(Barzilai et al, , 2007b. On the contrary when correlations were made between autoimmune diseases and infections, the incidences were found to be increased in the subjects who are at reduced risk of infections.…”

Síndrome de intestino irritable y autoinmunidad

“…Adicionalmente, la silicona se puede filtrar desde las prótesis hacia tejidos adyacentes o diseminarse distalmente, induciendo una reacción a cuerpo extraño caracterizada por activación de células inmunitariass, fibrosis y la formación de granulomas que contienen silicona [40][41][42][43][44][45][46] . La teoría de una respuesta autoinmune/inflamatoria con la formación de autoanticuerpos, células reactivas y citocinas, ha sido apoyada por modelos animales [47][48][49] . El ASIA se clasifica según los criterios propuestos por Shoenfeld y Agmon-Levin, divididos en cuatro criterios mayores y cuatro criterios menores, y se requiere la presencia de dos criterios mayores o un criterio mayor en conjunto con dos criterios menores, para establecer el diagnóstico 37 37 .…”