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Originally Posted by Hesla
^. What are your thoughts on resesrch that Certain viruses (like Epstein-Barr) are the underlying reason the immune system reacts the way it does ? Genetics obviously plays a role in who reacts though.
If so, would vaccination in at risk populations potentially be a treatment ?
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Good question.
There are well-established links between virus infections and auto immune diseases - for example, mice injected with a part of one of the proteins of the hepatitis B virus that matches an epitope (something that elicits immune responses in mammals) in myelin develop MS-like disease. It could also be a bystander activation of T cells, or even just a chronic infection that hasn't been identified yet.
The immunogenic basis of MS is pretty well-defined, but it's not clear why exactly people develop autoreactive T cells - a similar effect seen in other autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. It could be because of virus infection.
So, the answer is, I don't know. Unless we know which viruses are the ones that cause the diseases, we can't really immunize against all of them.
There's also the issue that not every virus has an effective vaccine; and some may never be generated.
Interesting thing to think about, though. Thanks for making my brain work today!!