About half of the people with multiple sclerosis have the HLA-DR15 gene variant. A study has now shown how this genetic predisposition contributes to the development of the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis in combination with environmental factors. The decisive factor is the shaping of a repertoire of immune cells which — although they are effective in fighting off pathogens such as Epstein-Barr virus — also attack brain tissue.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that damages the brain and the spinal cord and often severely limits a person’s quality of life. It affects about 2.5 million people worldwide, most of them young adults. The cause of the disease is a complex interaction between genetic factors and environmental influences such as smoking or infections.
Genetic variation and viruses as risk factors
For almost 50 years now, it has been known that a gene variant called HLA-DR15 is strongly associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). This gene variant is responsible for up to 60 percent of genetic risk. If carriers of this common gene (about a quarter of the healthy population is HLA-DR15 positive) are also infected with the Epstein-Barr virus and have a symptomatic course of infection called Pfeiffer’s disease (also known as glandular fever or infectious mononucleosis), the risk of MS increases 15-fold.
UZH Professor Roland Martin, Head of the Department of Neuroimmunology and MS Research at the University Hospital Zurich, says: «There are therefore clear indications that the interaction between HLA-DR15 and infectious agents such as Epstein-Barr virus is significant for the development of the disease, even though the exact mechanisms behind this have not been understood until now.»
An interdisciplinary, international study led by Martin has now shown that the immune cells of people with HLA-DR15 recognize certain microbes — such as the Epstein-Barr virus — very effectively, but that this «fitness» can also lead to an undesired immune reaction against the person’s own brain tissue.
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Materials provided by University of Zurich. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.