Role of Epstein-Barr virus infection for the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis

Journal/Book: Z Rheumatol 1998; 57 Suppl. 1: 53 (P 35). 1998;

Abstract: Department of Nephrology and Rheumatology University of Göttingen lntroduction: The pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis is still not completely understood. A causative role of different infectious agents has previously been proposed. In this study the frequency of latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection was investigated in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in comparison to healthy blood donors. Materials and Methods: The presence of viral DNA was demonstrated by polymerase chainamplification of DNA isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 58 patients withrheumatoid arthritis and 60 age-matched healthy controls. Sera of the same samples wereexamined for antibodies against EBV-encoded antigens EBNA-1 VCA and EA by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: EBV-DNA could be detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 63.7 % (37/58) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis whereas PBMC samples of healthy controls harbored the viral DNA in only 30 % (18/60) of cases. In addition rheumatoid arthritis patients were found to have an increased frequency of detectable antibodies against EBV-encoded antigens (VCA-IgG 98.2 % [57/58]; VCA-IgM 17.2 % [10/58]; EBNA-1 IgG 82.7 % [48/58]; EA-IgG 24.1 % [14/58] ): 14 of 58 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (24.1 %) had serological evidence of reactivated EBV-infection in comparison to none of the controlgroup. Conclusions: These findings support the hypothesis that Epstein-Barr virus infection maybe involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. Further studies have to define thepathogenetic mechanisms of viral infection for the development of inflammatory arthritis. le

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