EBV-Specific T Cells in Alzheimer's Patients

A Stanford researcher and his team have discovered an unexpected concentration of Epstein-Barr virus-specific T cells in the brains and cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer's patients.   While the researcher, Stanford University’s Tony Wyss-Coray, Ph.D., does not reach any conclusions about this previously unknown correlation, he believes theses activated T cells "may be contributing to neurodegeneration," as reported in the article written by Bruce Goldman and  published in Medical Xpress (January 9, 2020).    The researcher goes on to observe that he and his team “found [these T cells] hanging around the scene of the crime” and observes that he doesn’t “think these cells are innocent bystanders that just happen to be there and aren’t doing anything.”  The results of Dr. Wyss-Coray's study were published in Nature. 

As reported by Goldman, despite the investment of time and resources (billions of dollars) in clinical trials, researchers so far have been unable to link the incidence of Alzheimer's to the build up of “gummy plaques” next to or near nerve cells in the brain, long considered the most likely cause of the illness.   Researchers have now begun to focus more heavily on the possibility that an overactive innate immune system (which is usually not pathogen specific) damages brain cells.  Dr. Wyss-Coray’s study breaks with this approach and examines the adaptive immune system, instead.  Using both autopsies (for examination of brain tissue) and live patients (for cerebrospinal fluid analysis), he finds unexplained concentrations of Epstein-Barr virus responsive T cells in both locations.    Again, while he does not move from correlation to causation, he suggests that further investigation and analysis is warranted.

~~ David Walsh