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Updated: Dec 5, 2025
Separation of Immune Cell Subpopulations in Peripheral Blood Samples from Children with Infectious Mononucleosis
Published on: September 7, 2022
Epstein-Barr virus infection after adolescence and human herpesvirus 6A as risk factors for multiple sclerosis
M Biström1, D Jons2, E Engdahl3,4
1Department of Clinical Science, Neurosciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Background And Purpose:
Infections with human herpesvirus 6A (HHV-6A) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) have been linked to multiple sclerosis (MS) development. For EBV, late infection has been proposed as a risk factor, but serological support is lacking. The objective of this study was to investigate how age affects the EBV and HHV-6A associated risks of developing MS.
Methods:
In this nested case-control study, Swedish biobanks were accessed to find pre-symptomatically collected blood samples from 670 individuals who later developed relapsing MS and 670 matched controls. A bead-based multiplex assay was used to determine serological response against EBV and HHV-6A. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals.
Results:
Seropositivity against EBV exhibited a pattern where associations switched from a decreased risk of developing MS in the group below 20 years of age to an increased risk amongst individuals aged 20-29 and 30-39 years (p for trend 0.020). The age of transition was estimated to be 18.8 years. In contrast, HHV-6A was associated with increased MS risk in all age groups (total cohort odds ratio 2.1, 95% confidence interval 1.6-2.7).
Conclusions:
This study suggests EBV infection after adolescence and age independent HHV-6A infection as risk factors for MS.
