EBV ANTIBODIES AS PoTENTIAL DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS

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INFECTIONS by the Epstein-Barr VIRUS (EBV) AND THEIR FREQUENT rE-ACTIVATION HAVE BEEN LINKED TO ME/CFS PATHOGENESIS. WE INTEND TO uNDERSTAND WHETHER AnTI-EBV ANTIBODIES CAN Be USED as A DIAGNOSTIC TOOL

Viruses including EBV are thought to be the root cause of ME/CFS

Background

Nearly all of us are infected with EBV at some point in our lives. But, in a healthy situation, our immune system can fight the virus off. In some individuals, infections by EBV or their constant reactivation over time can cause several autoimmune diseases including Multiple Sclerosis. We also find that people with ME/CFS have active EBV infections or a vast repertoire of antibody responses to EBV.

In previous experiments – using data from Prof. Carmen Scheibenbogen’s group at Charité Universitätmedizin Berlin – Dr. Nuno Sepúlveda identified a number of EBV-derived small protein fragments (antigens) whose responding antibodies could identify ME/CFS people with high probability (sensitivity) an infection disease trigger when compared to healthy individuals.

In this project, we aimed at replicating this finding with blood samples from the UK ME/CFS biobank. The research was conducted in collaboration with Prof. Scheibenbogen at the Charité Universitätmedizin Berlin, and Dr. Eliana Lacerda at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Impact

We found two antibody responses that could distinguish a subgroup of patients with an infectious trigger from healthy controls with high sensitivity (probability of true positive) and high specificity (probability of true negative). Hence, these antibody responses have potential in the diagnosis of these ME/CFS patients with an infectious trigger, specifically those affected by EBV.