Multiple sclerosis: Endogenous retrovirus HERV-W key to nerve tissue damage

(Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf) Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) affecting brain and spinal cord. In collaboration with colleagues from the USA and Canada, a team of Düsseldorf-based researchers led by Prof. Dr. Patrick Küry from the Department of Neurology has discovered a new way in which nerve tissue is damaged by an endogenous retrovirus. They authors have published their findings in PNAS.