Epstein Barr Revisited - Feb 05 Abstract

April 6, 2005

Most people stopped paying attention to Epstein Barr when

researchers concluded it wasn't the cause of chronic fatigue

syndrome.

I have Lyme, and a few other diagnoses. One of the lab findings was

an elevated titer for the early antigen to EBV. This was flagged by

the lab as possibly indicating 'chronic, reactivated infection.'

So now I'm taking a second look at EBV, not as a primary culprit but

as a chronic co-infection, with possible symptomatic relevance and

implications for how my immune system is coping (or NOT coping) with

Lyme.

I found this Pub Med citation, thought it was worth posting:

J Infect Dis. 2005 Feb 15;191(4):531-9. Epub 2005 Jan 6. Related

Articles, Links

Differences between T cell-type and natural killer cell-type chronic

active Epstein-Barr virus infection.

Kimura H, Hoshino Y, Hara S, Sugaya N, Kawada J, Shibata Y, Kojima

S, Nagasaka T, Kuzushima K, Morishima T.

Department of Pediatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of

Medicine, Nagoya, Japan. hkimura@...

Infections of T cells and natural killer (NK) cells play a central

role in the pathogenesis of chronic active Epstein-Barr virus

(CAEBV) infection. To characterize the virologic and cytokine

profiles of T cell-type and NK cell-type infection, 39 patients with

CAEBV infection were analyzed.

Patients with T cell-type infection had higher titers of

immunoglobulin G against early and late EBV antigens, suggesting

lytic cycle infection. However, the pattern of EBV gene expression

was latency type II; BZLF1, which is a hallmark of lytic cycle

infection, could not be detected in any patients, regardless of

infection type.

Patients with CAEBV infection had high concentrations of

proinflammatory, T helper cell type 1, and anti-inflammatory

cytokines. The cytokine profile in patients with NK cell-type

infection was similar to that in patients with T cell-type

infection, but the concentration of IL-13 was high in patients with

NK cell-type infection. These findings should help to clarify the

pathogenesis of CAEBV infection and facilitate the development of

more-effective treatments.

PMID: 15655776 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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