Topline
Moderna recently launched early stage clinical trials for an mRNA vaccine against the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a common pathogen that infects almost everyone at some point in their lives, is the primary cause of mononucleosis and, according to a study published in the journal Science Thursday, likely causes multiple sclerosis (MS), offering hope the devastating neurological condition might be prevented.
Moderna is working on a vaccine for EBV
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
Moderna said it had dosed the first participant in a study designed to test its EBV vaccine in early January, and will evaluate the shot’s safety and dosage in around 270 people.
If successful, the shot, built using the same mRNA technology in the company’s Covid-19 vaccine, could be the first EBV vaccine on the market.
The Moderna trial comes at the same time Harvard researchers linked infection with the common virus to MS, a neurological condition affecting some 1 million Americans, after studying data from more than 10 million people serving in the U.S. military.
The risk of MS increased 32-fold after infection with EBV but was unchanged after infection with other viruses, the researchers found, findings that could not be explained with any other known risk factor for MS and mark “the first study providing compelling evidence of causality,” said Alberto Ascherio, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard Chan School of Public Health and the study’s senior author.
Ascherio said the findings were a “big step” and suggest most cases of MS could be prevented by stopping infection with EBV, as well as opening up the possibility of a cure for MS by “targeting EBV.”
Key Background
EBV has been suspected of playing a role in MS for a long time but obtaining strong proof has been difficult given how many people—around 95% of adults worldwide—have been infected. For most this infection is harmless. Where it does raise issues, EBV is most known for causing infectious mononucleosis, or “mono,” but has also been linked to some rare cancers and can linger in some people for a lifetime.
What We Don’t Know
How EBV causes MS. The role EBV may play in the development of MS is still unclear and further research will be needed to validate the findings. The study does not explain why so few of the people infected with EBV go on to develop MS, either, and many questions about how the disease develops remain. MS could be a result of the body’s response to EBV infection, and not the virus itself, for example. Further research will also be needed to establish whether preventing infection can prevent all or most cases of MS, a potentially distant goal given the disease’s long progression.
Big Number
2.8 million. That’s how many people are living with MS worldwide.
Further Reading
Epstein-Barr Virus Found to Trigger Multiple Sclerosis (Scientific American)
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