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Prevalence of EBV, HHV6, HCMV, HAdV, SARS-CoV-2, and autoantibodies to type I interferon in sputum from myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome patients
Department of Biomedical & Clinical Sciences, Division of Cell & Neurobiology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
Umeå University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Microbiology, Section of Virology.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6949-1213
Department of Pain and Rehabilitation, Linköping University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden.
Department of Biomedical & Clinical Sciences, Division of Cell & Neurobiology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
2025 (English)In: Viruses, E-ISSN 1999-4915, Vol. 17, no 3, article id 422Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

An exhausted antiviral immune response is observed in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and post-SARS-CoV-2 syndrome, also termed long COVID. In this study, potential mechanisms behind this exhaustion were investigated. First, the viral load of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), human adenovirus (HAdV), human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), human herpesvirus 6 (HHV6), and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was determined in sputum samples (n = 29) derived from ME/CFS patients (n = 13), healthy controls (n = 10), elderly healthy controls (n = 4), and immunosuppressed controls (n = 2). Secondly, autoantibodies (autoAbs) to type I interferon (IFN-I) in sputum were analyzed to possibly explain impaired viral immunity. We found that ME/CFS patients released EBV at a significantly higher level compared to controls (p = 0.0256). HHV6 was present in ~50% of all participants at the same level. HAdV was detected in two cases with immunosuppression and severe ME/CFS, respectively. HCMV and SARS-CoV-2 were found only in immunosuppressed controls. Notably, anti-IFN-I autoAbs in ME/CFS and controls did not differ, except in a severe ME/CFS case showing an increased level. We conclude that ME/CFS patients, compared to controls, have a significantly higher load of EBV. IFN-I autoAbs cannot explain IFN-I dysfunction, with the possible exception of severe cases, also reported in severe SARS-CoV-2. We forward that additional mechanisms, such as the viral evasion of IFN-I effect via the degradation of IFN-receptors, may be present in ME/CFS, which demands further studies.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI, 2025. Vol. 17, no 3, article id 422
Keywords [en]
autoAbs to interferon type I, Epstein–Barr virus, human adenovirus, human cytomegalovirus, human herpesvirus 6, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
National Category
Immunology in the Medical Area Microbiology in the Medical Area
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-237397DOI: 10.3390/v17030422ISI: 001454044300001PubMedID: 40143349Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105001358645OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-237397DiVA, id: diva2:1951467
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 4.3-2019-00201 GD-2020-138Swedish Cancer Society, 211832Pj01H2Linköpings universitetAvailable from: 2025-04-11 Created: 2025-04-11 Last updated: 2025-04-11Bibliographically approved

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