Absence of echovirus sequences in brain and spinal cord of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients

The role of enteroviruses in pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is controversial. A recent study, based on reverse transcription-poly merase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis of spinal cord, reported identifica tion of a novel echovirus in 15 of 17 French subjects with ALS and only 1 o f 29 subjects with other neurologic diseases. We established a real-time RT -PCR method based on this novel echovirus sequence and used this method and that previously employed for analysis of the French subjects to determine the prevalence of echoviral sequences in spinal cord and motor cortex of sp oradic ALS subjects from the United States. No echoviral sequences were fou nd in 20 spinal cord and 10 motor cortex samples from autopsy-confirmed cas es of ALS or 13 spinal cord and 5 motor cortex samples from subjects with n o motor neuron disease.