Investigating the Relative Frequency of Infection with Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2 in the Serum of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis via Using Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP)

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS). It is an Auto immune disease whose cause is still unknown though some factors can be named as its cause such as genetics, geographic element and viral agents. HSV is among the infection agents that may be involved in pathogenesis of MS. The aim of this study was to use a new technique called loop-mediated isothermal amplification to detect presence of Herpes Simplex Virus in patients harboring Multiple Sclerosis as well as in healthy individuals in the control group. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional analytical study in which 50 multiple sclerosis patients and 50 healthy controls were included. The infection with herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 was investigated by the new technique of LAMP. Results: The sensitivity of this technique was 5 particle viruses and its specificity for HSV was 100%. Within the 50 patients with multiple sclerosis, 11 samples revealed positive results for HSV (22%), while in the control group no infection with herpes simplex virus was found (0%). Conclusion: This study indicates that the LAMP technique owns high sensitivity and specificity for detection of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 in serum of patients with multiple sclerosis as well as the control group

Early spontaneous immortalization and loss of plasticity of rabbit bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

Objectives Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC) have been widely used for cell therapy and tissue engineering purposes. However, there are still controversies concerning safety of application of these cells after in vitro expansion. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the characteristics of rabbit BM-MSC during long-term culture. Materials and methods In this study, we have examined growth kinetics, morphological changes, differentiation potential and chromosomal abnormalities, as well as tumour formation potential of rabbit BM-MSC in long-term culture. Results and conclusion We found that shortly after isolation, proliferation rate of rabbit BM-MSC decreases until they enter a dormant phase. During this period of quiescence, the cells are large and multinucleate. After some weeks of dormancy we found that several small mononuclear cells originated from each large multinucleate cell. These newly formed cells proliferated rapidly but had inferior differentiation potential. Although they were immortal, they did not have the capability for tumour formation in soft agar assay or in nude mice. This is the first report of spontaneous, non-tumorigenic immortalization of BM-MSC in rabbits. The phenomenon raises more concern for meticulous monitoring and quality control for using rabbit BM-MSC in cell-based therapies and tissue engineering experiments