Amid renewed interest in the potential relationship between Epstein Barr virus (EBV) and MS, a study
aiming to clarify this relationship showed that MS is not only preceded by EBV infection, it is also associated with a broader EBV-specific T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire. Tilman Schneider Hohendorf, PhD, and colleagues investigated the peripheral blood CD8, EBV-specific T-cell receptor beta chain (TRBV) repertoire of three independent cohorts: 1,396 patients with MS and 229 controls; 59 patients with MS and 51 controls; and 35 monozygotic, MS discordant twin pairs. They also retrieved multimer-binding TRBV sequences specific to four pathogens: EBV-CMV, influenza A, and SARS-CoV-2. The results showed a higher number of unique, EBV-specific, MHC-I restricted CD8 T cell sequences in patients with MS and was consistent in all three cohorts.
