title: Association of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis with multiple sclerosis in Sardinian patients.
abstract: Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) infection is highly spread in the ruminant herds of Sardinia, in the Western Mediterranean. The objective of this study was to investigate prevalence of MAP infection in association with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) using clinical specimen from patients and controls. We analyzed samples for the presence of MAP specific DNA and to demonstrate humoral response to a MAP protein (MAP2694), a predicted homologue of the T-cell receptor gamma-chain/complement component 1 of the host. We found presence of MAP DNA in 42% of the MS patients and an extremely significant humoral immune response revealed by the MS patients against the MAP protein. In our opinion, this is the first report that significantly associates MAP infection with MS. Further studies will be required to confirm if MAP could be one of the triggers of MS, according to the molecular mimicry theory, in susceptible (and genetically at risk) individuals.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Sezione di Microbiologia e Virologia, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cossu
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cocco
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paccagnini
authors.forename: Speranza
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Masala
authors.forename: Niyaz
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Frau
authors.forename: Maria Giovanna
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Marrosu
authors.forename: Leonardo A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Sechi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000382:microbiology*; D016927:Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010283:Paratuberculosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial