Anti-HSV-2 antibody in patients with MS and NMO.

BACKGROUND

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica (NMO) are demyelinating disorders of the central nervous system. There is growing evidence that viruses may play a causal role in these diseases. Human herpes viruses have been of special attention since their DNA have been detected in many of MS patients' samples. Human herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) is a member of this family which has not been investigated thoroughly in MS and NMO.

METHODS

We took blood samples from 90 subjects including 30 RRMS patients, 30 NMO patients and 30 healthy controls. After serum isolation, all serum samples were frozen at -70 °C to be used for enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detection of specific antibodies against HSV-2. Presence or absence of antibodies against HSV-2 was determined based on the cut-off calibrator and index values were then determined. A value of <0.9: negative, between 0.9 and 1.1: equivocal and <1.1: positive.

RESULTS

Mean age of all subjects was 33.36 and female to male ratio was 4.3/1. None of the subjects were seropositive for anti-HSV-2 antibody. Analysis indicated no significant differences (P-value >0.05) among antibody levels between MS (0.19 ± 0.08), NMO (0.22 ± 0.16) and control (0.21 ± 0.09) groups. There were also no correlations between mean antibody index or O.D. and subjects' sex, family history, blood group, smoking history, age and presence of visual-motor-sensory or other forms of disability in any of the three MS, NMO and control groups (P-value >0.05).

CONCLUSION

We found no associations between patients' diagnosis of MS or NMO and mean anti-HSV-2 antibody index and O.D. levels.