2008/09/22 by Jan D. Lünemann, J. D. Lünemann, Peter Huppke +9 · 1 citation
Medicine · Immunology and Microbiology · #Multiple Sclerosis Research Studies #Polyomavirus and related diseases #Immunotherapy and Immune Responses
paper · pdf · doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000326576.91097.87
Twentythree children with a diagnosis of definite MS and 17 demographically matched healthy peers were enrolled at the Department of Pediatrics and Pediatric Neurology, University of Go ttingen, Germany (table e-1 on the Neurology Web site at www.neurology. org). Virus-specific antibody responses were assessed using standardized ELISA kits (Bio-Quant, San Diego, CA) for IgG antibodies directed against the EBVencoded viral capsid antigen (EBV-VCA), the HCMV-derived early antigens (HCMV-EA), the immunogenic C-terminus of the latent EBV nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA1, aa 458-641), and toward EBVinfected B cell lysates. In order to assess the specificity of EBNA1-targeting IgG, 211 dodecamer peptides, overlapping by nine amino acids and covering the entire sequence of EBNA1 (aa 1-641), were covalently linked to cellulose membranes as described previously. Positive spots were identified as blue or purple. Individual membranes were processed and evaluated blinded to the clinical diagnosis.