Expression of HERV-H/W env epitopes on PBMCs from MS patients with active disease

Background The demyelinating disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is assumed to be caused by a malfunction of the immune system, maybe due to exposure of genetically susceptible individuals to unknown environmental agent(s) possibly virus. Our working hypothesis is that these viruses could be endogenous retroviruses, activated by other infectious agents, presumably from the herpes virus group with EBV as the prime candidate. Previously retroviral activity has been monitored by PERT assays. Assays such as flow cytometry enables detection of possible expression of viral epitopes on the surface of PBMCs from MSpatients, and confocal microscopy can show the cellular location of these epitopes.