Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a destructive autoimmune neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system (CNS) with unknown etiology and mechanism of pathogenesis. Pathogens, especially human herpes viruses, have been suggested as environmental factors of the MS and other neuroinflammatory disorders. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of HHV-6 antibody response in MS patients and investigate the levels of pro/anti-inflammatory cytokine and chemokines in MS patients in comparison with healthy subjects. Two hundred sixty-three patients with clinically defined MS (140 females and 123 males), along with 263 healthy subjects (140 females and 123 males), were recruited for this study. After the analysis of HHV-6 seropositivity/seronegativity, the levels of some pro/anti-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-12 as well as two chemokines, namely CCL-2 and CCL-5 were determined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method in HHV-6 seropositive/seronegative MS patients and healthy subjects. Our results showed that the serum concentrations of TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-6, and CCL-5 elevated in HHV-6 seropositive compared with seronegative MS patients (P < .05). Moreover, the levels of IL-12, IL-10, and CCL-2 levels were significantly lower in seropositive MS patients when compared with seronegative MS patients (P < .05). Also, our results revealed that the mean values of the expanded disability status scale (EDSS) were significantly higher in HHV-6 seropositive versus seronegative MS patients (P < .05). In conclusion, we proposed that HHV-6 infection may play a role in MS pathogenesis by changing cytokine signaling in MS patients that may lead to peripheral inflammation.

中文翻译：

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人疱疹病毒6和炎症标志物在多发性硬化发病机制中的作用

多发性硬化症 (MS) 是一种破坏性的中枢神经系统 (CNS) 自身免疫性神经炎症和神经退行性疾病，其病因和发病机制尚不清楚。病原体，尤其是人类疱疹病毒，已被认为是 MS 和其他神经炎性疾病的环境因素。本研究旨在确定 MS 患者 HHV-6 抗体反应的患病率，并调查 MS 患者与健康受试者相比的促/抗炎细胞因子和趋化因子的水平。本研究招募了 263 名临床定义的 MS 患者（140 名女性和 123 名男性）以及 263 名健康受试者（140 名女性和 123 名男性）。在分析 HHV-6 血清阳性/血清阴性后，一些促/抗炎细胞因子的水平，包括 TNF-α、IFN-γ、IL-1β、IL-6 和 IL-12 以及两种趋化因子，即 CCL-2 和 CCL-5 通过酶联免疫吸附测定 (ELISA) 方法在 HHV-6 血清阳性/血清阴性 MS 患者和健康科目。我们的结果表明，与血清阴性 MS 患者相比，HHV-6 血清阳性患者的血清 TNF-α、IFN-γ、IL-1β、IL-6 和 CCL-5 浓度升高（P < .05）。此外，与血清阴性 MS 患者相比，血清阳性 MS 患者的 IL-12、IL-10 和 CCL-2 水平显着降低（P < .05）。此外，我们的结果显示，HHV-6 血清阳性 MS 患者与血清阴性 MS 患者的扩展残疾状态量表 (EDSS) 的平均值显着更高 (P < .05)。综上所述，