Significant low prevalence of antibodies reacting with simian virus 40 mimotopes in serum samples from patients affected by inflammatory neurologic diseases, including multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Many investigations were carried out on the association between viruses and multiple sclerosis (MS). Indeed, early studies reported the detections of neurotropic virus footprints in the CNS of patients with MS. In this study, sera from patients affected by MS, other inflammatory (OIND) and non-inflammatory neurologic diseases (NIND) were analyzed for antibodies against the polyomavirus, Simian Virus 40 (SV40). An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), with two synthetic peptides, which mimic SV40 antigens, was employed to detect specific antibodies in sera from patients affected by MS, OIND, NIND and healthy subjects (HS). Immunologic data indicate that in sera from MS patients antibodies against SV40 mimotopes are detectable with a low prevalence, 6%, whereas in HS of the same mean age, 40 yrs, the prevalence was 22%. The difference is statistically significant (P = 0.001). Significant is also the difference between MS vs. NIND patients (6% vs. 17%; P = 0.0254), whereas no significant difference was detected between MS vs OIND (6% vs 10%; P>0.05). The prevalence of SV40 antibodies in MS patients is 70% lower than that revealed in HS.

Figure 1. Serologic profile of serum antibody reactivity to SV40 mimotopes VP1 B (A) and VP2/3 C (B) and VPs B+C (C).

Immunologic data are from serum samples from Multiple Sclerosis patients (MS), Healthy Subjects (HS1), Other Inflammatory Neurologic Diseases (OIND), Non-Inflammatory Neurologic Diseases (NIND) and Healthy subjects (HS2). Results are presented as values of optical density (OD) readings at λ 405 nm, of serum samples diluted at 1∶20, detected in indirect ELISA. In scatter dot plotting, each plot represents the dispersion of OD values to a mean level indicated by the line inside the scatter with Standard Error Mean (SEM) for each group of subjects analyzed. A) The mean OD of sera (VP B ± Std Error) in MS (0.32±0.02) were lower than that in HS1 (0.50±0.02) and in OIND (0.67±0.04). Moreover the mean OD of sera in OIND were higher than that in NIND (0.32±0.02) and HS2 (0.46±0.02). The mean OD of sera in NIND were lower than that in HS2. B) The mean OD of sera (VP C ± Std Error) in MS (0.26±0.03) were lower than that in HS1 (0.43±0.02). C) The mean OD of sera (VPs B+C ± Std Error) in MS (0.29±0.02) were lower than that in HS1 (0.46±0.02) and in OIND (0.49±0.03). Moreover, the mean OD of sera in OIND were higher than that in NIND (0.34±0.02). The mean OD in NIND were lower than that in HS2 (0.43±0.02) and in OIND sera. Statistical analysis was performed using Anova and Newman-Keuls Comparison test. (**P<0.001; °P<0.01).