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Clinical microbiology

Towards a prognostic biomarker for multiple sclerosis

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 23, page 547 (2025)Cite this article

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Multiple sclerosis is an autoinflammatory and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system that involves demyelination and axonal damage. Evidence strongly suggests that Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) is involved in disease pathology. It was shown previously that a conserved peptide sequence in the EBV nuclear antigen (EBNA-1381–452) induces autoreactive antibodies that cross-react with central nervous system-derived proteins. In a recent study, Vietzen et al. investigated whether the EBNA-1381–452-specific antibody titres could function as a biomarker for the identification of individuals at risk for multiple sclerosis. Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, they showed that longitudinal plasma samples from patients with multiple sclerosis had significantly higher EBNA-1381–452-specific antibody titres compared with a control cohort. Next, testing whether the antibody titres correlate with disease severity, they found that patients with high-level antibody titres also exhibited higher numbers of brain lesions as well as increased plasma biomarkers of axonal damage. Moreover, the consistent presence of high-level EBNA-1381–452- specific antibody titres in individuals within three years after EBV seroconversion was associated with a significantly shorter time to the disease diagnosis and onset. Finally, EBNA-1381–452-specific antibody titres were shown to increase before axonal damage in the patients. The data in this study suggest that the detection of EBNA-1381–452-specific antibody titres is potentially an early marker predicting the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, but further studies are required to evaluate the prognostic value.

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References

Original article

  • Vietzen, H. et al. Early identification of individuals at risk for multiple sclerosis by quantification of EBNA-1381-452-specific antibody titers. Nat. Commun. 16, 6416 (2025)

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  1. Nature Reviews Microbiology http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/

    Andrea Du Toit

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  1. Andrea Du Toit
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Correspondence to Andrea Du Toit.

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Du Toit, A. Towards a prognostic biomarker for multiple sclerosis. Nat Rev Microbiol 23, 547 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-025-01224-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-025-01224-4

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