Multiple sclerosis: autoimmunity and viruses

This review will explore two new aspects of the involvement of viruses in multiple sclerosis pathogenesis. The first aspect is the complex interactions between viruses. The second aspect is the proposal of a mechanism by which autoreactive T cells are able to escape thymic selection and potentially recognize self and a pathogen.

With regard to viruses, recent work has demonstrated that one virus may enhance the replication of another virus, potentially leading to an increase in inflammation and disease progression. Also, interactions between human endogenous retroviruses, which likely do not replicate, and certain herpes viruses, may also play a role in disease pathogenesis. Mechanistically, T cells expressing dual T-cell receptors would be able to recognize self and a foreign antigen specifically. Therefore, human endogenous retroviruses potentially play a role in multiple sclerosis pathogenesis, and both interactions between multiple viruses and autoreactive CD8(+) T cells with dual T-cell receptors may play a role in the pathogenesis of the disease.

The complex interactions between multiple viral infections, either within the central nervous system or in the periphery, and the host immune response to viral infection may be such that a variety of viral specificities result in the activation of T cells that recognize self and induce multiple sclerosis. Therefore, it is unlikely that any one microbe will be determined to be the causative agent of multiple sclerosis as reflected by the number of potential triggering mechanisms of the disease.