Epstein-Barr Virus Antibodies in a Sample of Egyptian Patients with Relapsing Remmitting Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

ultiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the CNS results from immune-mediated inflammation, demyelination and subsequent axonal damage. It is the most common autoimmune disease in young adult with peak incidence between the ages of 20 and 40 years. Infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a strong risk factor for MS. it has a major role in the pathogenesis of MS. It is implicated with MS risk, exacerbation, and progression. EBV seropositivity among adult MS patients is near 100 percent, significantly higher than healthy controls Various reports using different methods have linked EBV to MS, much of these reports were case-control studies detecting higher prevalence of anti EBV IgG in MS patients compared to control individuals. Interestingly, a successful treatment of MS involves the injection of b-interferon, which is also an antiviral and immunomodulatory cytokine. In the present study eighty four Egyptian patients were included in our sample from MS Unit, Neurology department at Ain Shams University Hospital with inclusion and exclusion criterion aiming to eliminate factors that cause MS- like symptoms in different medical and neurological conditions to insure only the RRMS type is correctly diagnosed, sixty six healthy controls matching the patients in age and sex were