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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. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Clinical course, outcome, radiological features, severity, and histopathology are heterogenous in multiple sclerosis (MS). Since MS is considered to be a polygenic disease, the genetic background may at least partly be responsible for this variability. Some MS cases are histopathologically characterized by a dramatic oligodendrocyte loss that is in part caused by apoptosis. A dysregulated apoptotic elimination of self-reactive T cells may also contribute to disease susceptibility. To analyze genetic differences in the apoptosis regulating factors bcl-2, bax, bcl-x and p53 we investigated polymorphisms of these genes in 105 patients with a relapsing remitting disease course and 99 controls by PCR-SSCP and direct sequencing. We identified so far unpublished sequence alterations in the promotor region of the bxl-x gene, in exon 7 of the p53 gene, and in exon 1 of the bax gene. No differences were observed between MS patients and controls. Additional known polymorphisms were found in intron 3 of the bax gene and in exon 6 of the p53 gene. No significant differences in the frequency of gene sequence variations were found between MS patients and controls. The apoptosis genes studied here therefore appear less likely to be important effector genes in MS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]