Dysregulated Epstein-Barr virus infection in patients with CIDP
Received 7 September 2009; received in revised form 4 November 2009; accepted 6 November 2009. published online 26 November 2009.
Abstract
Ubiquitous viruses have frequently been proposed as a cause or trigger of chronic immune-mediated diseases. Infections are reported to be temporally associated with clinical exacerbations in patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). We examined immunological parameters of herpesvirus infections in untreated patients with CIDP compared to demographically matched controls. Patients with CIDP were uniformly seropositive for EBV-specific IgG and the disease was associated with a moderately enhanced IgG reactivity to EBV-encoded antigens expressed during both B cell transformation and productive viral replication. Moreover, cellular EBV copy numbers were 3-fold increased in patients with CIDP. In contrast, humoral immune responses to other herpesviruses (HCMV, HSV) as well as virus-specific IgM responses were unchanged in CIDP. These data indicate that host–pathogen interactions during chronic EBV infection are dysregulated in treatment-naïve patients with CIDP.
aLaboratory of Viral Immunobiology, Christopher H. Browne Center for Immunology and Immune Diseases, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, United States
bInstitute of Experimental Immunology, University Hospital Zürich, 8057 Zürich, Switzerland
cDepartment of Neurology, Philipps-University, 35039 Marburg, Germany
dDepartment of Virology, Charité University Medical Center, Humboldt University, 10117 Berlin, Germany
eDepartment of Neurology, Charité University Medical Center, Humboldt University, 10117 Berlin, Germany
fDepartment of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Justus-Liebig-University, 35392 Giessen, Germany
gDept. of Neurology, Klinikum Christophsbad, 73008 Göppingen, Germany
hCecilie-Vogt-Clinic for Molecular Neurology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Corresponding author. Institute of Experimental Immunology, Clinical Immunology and Immunotherapy, University Hospital Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland. Tel.: +41 44 635 3710; fax: +41 44 635 6883.
ABSTRACT