SEARCH FOR RETROVIRUS IN PATIENTS WITH MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS

Multiple sclerosis (MS) patient samples were screened for known or nov el retroviruses using an ultrasensitive technique, IMx PERT, that dete cts the presence of reverse transcriptase (RT). This procedure has 10( 5)- to 10(7)-fold greater sensitivity than conventional RT assays and is capable of detecting 10 to 50 virions. Moreover, IMx PERT is at lea st as sensitive as polymerase chain reaction, and requires no previous knowledge of viral nucleotide sequence. The MS specimens analyzed in this study included 136 sera from 79 patients and 128 cerebrospinal fl uid samples from 53 patients with relapsing or chronic progressive dis ease. In addition, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 19 MS patie nts were cultured in an attempt to amplify or induce expression of low -copy number or cell-associated retrovirus. No evidence of retrovirus was found in any of the specimens obtained from MS patients.