title: Concepts of viral pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis.
abstract: Viral infections have long been suspected to cause or modulate the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. Recently, two viruses in particular have been associated with multiple sclerosis: human herpesvirus-6 and a retrovirus termed multiple sclerosis-associated retrovirus, which is a member of the human endogenous retrovirus-9 family. Reports on the detection of human herpesvirus-6-encoded proteins in and around multiple sclerosis lesions are intriguing. Serological and polymerase chain reaction analyses looking for signs of reactivation of human herpesvirus-6 in multiple sclerosis patients are ambiguous, however. If human herpesvirus-6 does play a role as an initiator or amplifier of inflammatory lesions in some multiple sclerosis patients, these individuals might benefit from antiviral therapy.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clinical and Molecular Virology, University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. meinl@neuro.mpg.de
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Meinl
mesh_terms: D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000821:virology*; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human; D006801:Humans; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000821:virology*; D012190:Retroviridae; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000821:virology*