A wide-ranging study by scientists at the Cincinnati Children Hospital Medical Center (USA) reveals that the Epstein-Barr virus, better known for causing mononucleosis (popularly known as ‘kissing disease’), also increases the risk for some people from developing seven other major diseases . Those diseases are: systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease and type 1 diabetes. The results of the study have been published in the journal Nature Genetics.
The study shows that a protein produced by the Epstein-Barr virus, called EBNA2 , binds to multiple locations throughout the human genome that are associated with these seven diseases.
The work sheds new light on how environmental factors, such as viral or bacterial infections, poor diet, pollution, or other dangerous exposures, can interact with the human genetic blueprint and have serious consequences that influence disease.
“Now, using genomic methods that were not available 10 years ago, it appears that the components made by the virus interact with human DNA in places where the genetic risk of the disease increases. And not only for lupus, but also for all these other diseases, “explains John Harley, Director of the Cincinnati Children’s Center for Autoimmune Genomics and Etiology and one of the lead authors of the research.
The virus as a potential catalyst for disease
Scientists have linked the virus to other diseases in the past, including certain cancers of the lymphatic system. Now, more research has connected new diseases that are not related to each other. However, “they share a common set of abnormal transcription factors, each affected by the EBNA2 protein of the Epstein-Barr virus,” they clarify.
When these EBNA2 groups adhere to a section of a person’s genetic code, the risk of lupus increases. When they connect to another part of the code, it increases the risk of Multiple Sclerosis, for example, and so on.
“ This discovery is probably important enough to prompt many other scientists around the world to reconsider this virus in these disorders,” said Harley. “As a consequence, and assuming that others can replicate our findings, it could lead to therapies, prevention methods and ways to anticipate disease, which now do not exist.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , the Epstein-Barr virus is one of the most common human viruses and is found throughout the world. It is spread through bodily fluids, most commonly saliva. It causes fatigue, fever, sore throat, and swollen lymph nodes. Once someone is infected, the virus remains in the system for life.
More than 90% of developed nations are infected in their 20s. In less developed nations, 90% of people are infected within 2 years.
Mononucleosis, or mono, occurs most often in teens and college students, and at least 1 in 4 people infected with the Epstein-Barr virus will develop mononucleosis. Symptoms are similar to the virus and include extreme fatigue, an enlarged liver or spleen, headaches and body aches, and rashes.
Currently, there is no vaccine to prevent the virus.
Reference: John B. Harley et al, Transcription factors operate across disease loci, with EBNA2 implicated in autoimmunity, Nature Genetics (2018). DOI: 10.1038 / s41588-018-0102-3
