DNA from nearly 750,000 people, including UK Biobank participants, reveals genes that make people prone to persistent Epstein-Barr virus infections, which are linked to rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and many other diseases.
Summary
Researchers have uncovered 22 genes that could help to explain why some people have persistent Epstein-Barr virus infections. People with these genes tend to have high levels of the virus in their blood years after they’d first been infected. They are also more likely to have certain cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or one of hundreds of other serious conditions. The results could eventually help to prevent long-term consequences for people who are most vulnerable to them.
Researchers have discovered 22 genes that could help to explain why some people have persistent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infections – a common virus that can cause glandular fever. People who have high EBV levels in their blood years or decades after they’ve been infected are more likely to have one of many chronic conditions, including lupus and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
The study “highlights that infection has so much importance for public health – not just for people when they’re acutely unwell, but from a long-term perspective”, comments infectious disease specialist Alexander Mentzer from the University of Oxford, UK. The insights could eventually help to prevent long-term consequences for people who are most vulnerable to them.
This virus never really leaves
EBV infects more than 90% of people and it is spread primarily through saliva
EBV infects more than 90% of people. It spreads primarily through saliva. Most people catch it during childhood and, because they never develop any symptoms, don’t even know that they’ve had it. In young adults, EBV often causes glandular fever, aka mononucleosis (‘mono’).
While our immune system clears most viruses within a few weeks, EBV remains in the body for life – usually in amounts so small that they’re hard to detect.
For most people, this ‘dormant’ EBV doesn’t cause any problems, explains Mentzer, who wasn’t part of the study team. “But it’s becoming increasingly recognised that certain people are at risk of some diseases because of the infection,” he adds. For example, EBV seems to be the leading cause of multiple sclerosis and triggers certain types of cancer.
Some bodies struggle to keep EBV in check
We found that people with higher EBV levels are about 50% more likely to have rheumatoid arthritis and nearly twice as likely to have COPD compared to those with lower levels.
Dr Slavé Petrovski, AstraZeneca
DNA from nearly 750,000 people, including UK Biobank participants, has now revealed 22 genetic differences – many located in areas responsible for the immune system – that seem to make it harder for the body to suppress EBV long term.
People with these genetic differences are more likely to have high EBV levels in their blood. They are also more likely to have Hodgkin lymphoma (a type of cancer), the autoimmune disease lupus, heart disease, depression, kidney failure or one of hundreds of other serious conditions. “We found that people with higher EBV levels are about 50% more likely to have rheumatoid arthritis and nearly twice as likely to have COPD compared to those with lower levels,” says study co-leader Slavé Petrovski from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
Cause or coincidence?
This really is quite an advance, which makes it really exciting. [The results are] probably telling us that EBV could be driving some of these diseases.
Dr Alexander Mentzer, University of Oxford, UK
“This really is quite an advance, which makes it really exciting,” says Mentzer. The results are “probably telling us that EBV could be driving some of these diseases,” he adds. But, he cautions, other links between EBV and diseases might be coincidental. As Petrovski and his colleagues point out, the way that diseases change the immune system could also allow EBV levels in the blood to rise.
“We definitely need to do more work before we really understand if EBV is truly causal in driving some of these diseases or if it’s just a bystander,” Mentzer explains.
The study team hopes that their work will support efforts to better understand, prevent and treat chronic diseases. It’s not yet possible to prevent EBV infection, but the results could eventually help to prevent long-term complications.
This research was covered in New Scientist.
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