Rb. Dessau et al., ABSENCE OF ENTEROVIRAL AND CARDIOVIRAL RNA IN MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS BRAIN-TISSUE, Acta neurologica Scandinavica, 95(5), 1997, pp. 284-286
Objectives - Epidemiological evidence suggests that an infectious agen
t may be involved in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). Pico
rnaviruses are possible candidates for an etiological agent, because o
f their neurotropic properties and ability to cause chronic infections
. Materials and methods - Autopsy brain tissue from 25 patients with c
linically definite MS and 33 control patients without inflammatory neu
rological disease was tested with reverse transcription PCR specific f
or enteroviruses and cardioviruses. Results - All specimens were found
negative. Conclusion - These results do not support the theory of a p
ersisting entero- or cardioviral infection as the cause of MS as we fo
und no evidence of the presence of entero- or cardioviral genomes in t
he brains from MS patients.