Recent Research Study

Scientists are studying many aspects of Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) infection for clues into how the disease operates and reproduces.

Acute infectious diseases are typically accompanied by nonspecific symptoms like fever, malaise, irritability and drowsiness that usually resolve on recovery. However, in some individuals these symptoms persist in what is commonly termed postinfective fatigue. Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a study in BMC Infectious Diseases showing specific gene expressions correlated with postinfective fatigue following acute mononucleosis (from Epstein Barr Virus).

The pilot study, led by Dr. Suzanne Vernon, followed five people who developed postinfective fatigue lasting more than six months, following acute mononucleosis and five control subjects who recovered within three months. By studying the blood of each subject, the researchers discovered that those who developed post-infective fatigue had gene expression profiles indicative of an altered host response—meaning that their bodies reacted differently to EBV than the control subjects.

In fact, several genes associated with EBV infection were differentially expressed in the post-infective fatigue cases, including some that affect mitochondrial functions like fatty acid metabolism and the cell cycle. This provides insights into alterations in gene transcripts associated with the varied clinical outcomes of acute infectious mononucleosis.

Meanwhile researchers in Europe have identified a protein called ZEBRA, that appears to be the part of Epstein Barr Virus that is essential to switching it from a latent state in the body to an active one. Most people carry the latent form of EBV in their systems, but not everyone becomes actively infected. ZEBRA functions as the switch that turns the cell into a factory to manufacture thousands of copies of the virus.

You can read the full Zebra study online at http://news.biocompare.com/newsstory.asp?id=122039.