Research

Research program fundamentals

Posted on March 12, 2024  •  2 minutes  • 265 words

The BEHIND-MS project is a joint European research effort whose goal is to unravel the contribution of the Epstein-Barr virus to the pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

is the most frequent neuroinflammatory disease that is typically diagnosed in young adults, most frequently females. Despite new treatments that slow the progression of the disease, patients with MS frequently evolve towards major disability and neurodegeneration.

The pathogenesis of MS is controversially debated and remains globally enshrouded in mystery, but the recent discovery that infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a major risk factor for MS development will radically change research avenues in the field. The project started 1st of December 2023 with a duration of 5 years.

The BEHIND-MS consortium

proposes to draw for the first time a comprehensive atlas of the interactions between the virus itself, EBV-infected B cells, and all arms of the adaptive immune system and how they ultimately lead to demyelination and neural damage, in the context of genetic risk factors.

One essential aspect of our project is to apprehend the various mechanisms that lead to the different clinical and biological forms of the disease, with the ultimate goal of developing a personalized approach to the therapy of every patient.

Combine artificial intelligence

based algorithms with experimental approaches to determine the nature, intensity and breadth of the immune reaction against the virus in patients with MS and how this leads to the development of neurological lesions.

We will also comprehensively map the viral targets of the immune system and how these could also induce an autoimmune reaction in MS patients.