Advanced Techniques in Biology & Medicine
Open Access

Abstract

Could Multiple Sclerosis Develop due to Epstein Barr Virus Infections Causing a Time-Delayed Transcriptional-Activation of Human Endogenous Retroviruses?

Jacob Z Dalgaard

The underlying cause of multiple sclerosis (MS) is not fully understood. However, it is known that Epstein Barr virus (EBV) infections pre-date the development of the disease. Here I explore whether the underlying cause of Multiple Sclerosis can be explained by an inappropriate intra-cellular transcriptional response to the integration of the EBV in the genome of neural cells. Such a re-programming is proposed to lead to the transcriptional activation of other dormant viruses, human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), followed by the “auto-immune” response and inflammation observed in the brain of MS patients?