EBV peptide test

[Joolz]

I think that this is the new peptide test that Prof. Scheibenbogen has developed with JPT Technologies?

https://shop.jpt.com/1-PepMix-trade...ections/1314-PepMix-trade-Collection-EBV.html

It fits with their 2014 paper on the EBV immune response in CFS patients, so maybe this might be a new diagnostic test for a subset (EBV-triggered) of CFS patients?

 

[Little Bluestem]

Do you know if it would work in a person who has been ill for decades?

 

[maryb]

I'd like to know that too.

 

[Hip]

I think that this is the new peptide test that Prof. Scheibenbogen has developed with JPT Technologies?

https://shop.jpt.com/1-PepMix-trade...ections/1314-PepMix-trade-Collection-EBV.html

It fits with their 2014 paper on the EBV immune response in CFS patients, so maybe this might be a new diagnostic test for a subset (EBV-triggered) of CFS patients?

Would you know how this is actually used as a diagnostic test? It seems to be a set of antigens from the Epstein-Barr virus, designed to stimulate an anti-EBV immune response.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

Would you know how this is actually used as a diagnostic test? It seems to be a set of antigens from the Epstein-Barr virus, designed to stimulate an anti-EBV immune response.

I don't think this is going to be a diagnostic test of any sort. It may be a way of stratifying patients by their T cell responses to different peptides from EBV but I don't think that will say anything about whether or not the EBV has anything to do with their ME. I guess it would be more likely to reflect their MHC genetics.

 

[Joolz]

I heard from one of prof Scheibenbogen's patients that the test is supposed to be used for diagnosing an EBV-specific fatigue, regardless of PCR results. She seems to think that [a subset of?] CFS patients suffer from repeated EBV replications (complete or incomplete). I'm just quoting, I haven't talked to her for almost a year, but she mentioned the test to me back then as well.

Do you know if it would work in a person who has been ill for decades?

I have no idea, but my guess would be yes. Why? Because the test has been developed in the context of the 2014 paper on EBV/CFS (http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085387) where the average disease duration is around 7 years with a range up to the 30s.

Prof. Scheibenbogen will also perform a (treatment) study on 10 CFS (probably EBV-triggered, as this is their main research focus?) patients from autumn 2015. It shouldn't take too long before results are published, if I understood correctly.

 

[Hip]

the test has been developed in the context of the 2014 paper on EBV/CFS (http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085387)

Interesting paper. They say that they found deficient memory B-cell and T-cell response in ME/CFS patients, suggesting an impaired ability to control early stages of EBV reactivation.


I wonder if this links up to a previous 2012 study (from Lerner et al) which found partial EBV reactivation in some ME/CFS patients generating two viral proteins, DNA polymerase and dUTPase, with the patients producing antibodies to neutralize these proteins (actual paper here).