RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Tarlinton, Rachael A1 Morandi, Elena A1 Wang, Belinda A1 Gran, Bruno A1 Khaiboullin, Timur A1 Martynova, Ekatarina A1 Rizvanov, Albert A1 Khaiboullina, SvetlanaYR 2020 T1 Viruses in multiple sclerosis pathogenesis JF Access Microbiology, VO 2 IS 7A OP SP 123 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/acmi.ac2020.po0065 PB Microbiology Society, SN 2516-8290, AB Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an extremely debilitating auto-immune disease of people characterised by demyelination of the central nervous system and progressive neurological dysfunction. The etiology of the disease is complex (including factors such as genetics, sex hormones and vitamin D levels). The involvement of viral infections as a risk factor in triggering disease has long been suspected and two classes of viruses in particular, the herpesvirus Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and the Human endogenous retrovirus “W” family (HERV-W) have been the focus of much recent research. Despite near ubiquitious infection (EBV), or integration into the genome as a repetitive element no longer able to function as a virus (HERV-W) a picture is gradually emerging of how these are involved in MS pathogenesis. In the case of EBV, having had infectious mononucleosis (clinical disease in patients infected post-puberty) increases the risk of developing MS. For HERV-W our recent work has confirmed that RNA is over-expressed in MS patients compared with healthy controls (though basal levels vary with ethnic background) and that EBV infection of B cells triggers expression of HERV-W RNA and proteins. There is a growing body of evidence that expression of HERV-W can trigger innate immune system inflammatory responses. There is also increasing evidence for molecular mimicry between epitopes of the HERV-W env protein, the EBV EBNA1 protein and peptides from brain proteins implicated in MS pathogenesis. Crucially these peptides are also able to bind the HLA-DR2b locus that is the strongest genetic risk factor for MS development., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/acmi/10.1099/acmi.ac2020.po0065