EBVis a member of the herpes family.
Chan School of Public Health and senior co-author on the study, told Verywell.
Some noted a higher risk of MS in individuals with mono and antibodies to EBV.
Others reported traces of EBV in the brain tissue of some people with MS. That proved to be a bigger challenge, Munger said.
Every two years, the military screened active-duty members for HIV and stored the samples in a repository.
They identified 801 MS cases that had enough available samples for the EBV assessment.
A supermajority of the MS casesall but onetested positive for EBV before the onset of MS.
This protein can indicate damage to the nervous system as much as six years before MS becomes clinically apparent.
The subjects who developed MS showed significantly higher levels of NfL than those who remained MS free.
Importantly, researchers saw signs of EBV infection in these individuals before any NfL was detected.
The Harvard team also tested other viruses likecytomegalovirusto verify that EBV was a unique factor contributing to MS cases.
What we do know is that its not some blanket increase in an immune response to everything.
Its very targeted towards EBV, Munger said.
Many people get exposed to the Epstein Barr virus but mostthe vast majoritydo not develop MS, Corboy said.
Vaccines have effectively protected against other herpesviruses likevaricella, the virus that causes chickenpox and shingles.
Thevaricella vaccinehas essentially eliminated shingles as a neurological disease, Corboy said.
Moderna recently launched a phase oneclinical trialof an mRNA vaccine against EBV.
Its going to be exciting to watch all of that unfold in the next few years.
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