Abstract
Several studies have suggested an association between human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) infection and multiple sclerosis. As HHV-6 is predominantly a T- cell tropic virus, we examined the frequency of detection of HHV-6 genome in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from relapsing-remitting (n = 32) and chronic progressive (n = 14) patients and from healthy (n = 17) and neurological (n = 7) controls. Two sensitive polymerase chain reaction assays were used to target different regions within the HHV-6 genome. Depending on the polymerase chain reaction assay used, the detection of HHV-6 genome ranged from 11.7 to 23.5% (controls), 3.1 to 23.0% (relapsing-remitting), and 14.2 to 28.5% (chronic progressive). Although these observations do not exclude a pathogenic role for HHV-6 in multiple sclerosis, they indicate a lack of correlation between HHV-6 infection of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and the development of multiple sclerosis.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 391-394 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Annals of neurology |
Volume | 44 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1998 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neurology
- Clinical Neurology