title: Multiple Sclerosis and HERV-W/MSRV: A Multicentric Study.
abstract: We designed a large multicentric study to analyse the presence of MSRV particles in blood and CSF of a large cohort of patients and controls from different European areas. 149 MS patients and 153 neurological and healthy controls were selected from Sardinia, Spain, Northern-Italy and Sweden. To avoid biological and inter-assay variability MSRV was detected within a single laboratory through nested and real-time PCR assays specific for pol and env genes. MSRV detection in blood and CSF of MS patients and controls in populations of different ethnicity gave significant differences (p<0.05 compared to neurological controls and <0.001 compared to healthy controls). The presence and viral load of MSRV are significantly associated with MS as compared to neurological and healthy controls in all ethnic groups.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Neurology, University of Sassari, Viale San Pietro 10, 07100, Sassari, Italy;
authors.forename: Giannina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arru
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mameli
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Astone
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Serra
authors.forename: Yu-Min
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Link
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fainardi
authors.forename: Massimiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Castellazzi
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Granieri
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Villoslada
authors.forename: Maria Laura
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Fois
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sanna
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rosati
authors.forename: Antonina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dolei
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sotgiu
keywords: HERV-W; MSRV; human endogenous retrovirus; multiple sclerosis