Bacterial Toxin a Potential Trigger for Multiple Sclerosis

English: This photomicrograph reveals Clostridium perfringens grown in Schaedler’s broth using Gram-stain. Clostridium perfringens is a spore-forming, heat-resistant bacterium that can cause foodborne disease. The spores persist in the environment, and often contaminate raw food materials. These bacteria are found in mammalian feces, and soil. Polski: Mikrofotografia laseczek Clostridium perfringens. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WASHINGTON, DC – January 28, 2014 –  Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College have added to the growing body of evidence that multiple sclerosis may be triggered by a toxin produced by common foodborne bacteria (Clostridium perfringens) . They presented their research at the 2014 ASM Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system characterized by blood brain (BBB) permeability and demyelination, a process in which the insulating myelin sheaths of  neurons are damaged.   The disease is thought to be triggered in a genetically susceptible individual by a combination of one or more environmental factors. The environmental trigger of MS, however, is still unknown.  According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the condition affects approximately 400,000 Americans and is, with the exception of trauma, the most frequent cause of neurological disability beginning in early to middle adulthood.
“We provide evidence that supports epsilon toxin’s ability to cause BBB permeability and show that epsilon toxin kills the brain’s myelin producing cells, oligodendrocytes; the same cells that die in MS
lesions,” says Jennifer Linden of Weill Cornell Medical College, who presented the research.  “We also show that epsilon toxin targets other cells types associated with MS inflammation such as the retinal vascular and meningeal cells.  Epsilon toxin may be responsible for triggering
MS.”