Borna disease virus and depression

Abstract

High amounts of circulating immune complexes of Borna disease virus correlates with severity of depression, according to Dr Liv Bode of the Robert Koch-Institut in Berlin, Germany. The virus targets limbic structure neurons and is known to cause behavioral abnormalities in animals. Using a highly sensitive enzyme immune assay to analyze 3000 human plasma samples, Dr Bode's group found that Borna disease virus-specific circulating immune complexes in humans were approximately 10 times higher than those detected by previous serological studies. In a group of 56 patients with varying degrees of depression the infection rate approached 100%. Infection rate in a healthy control group of 65 subjects was only 32%. The investigators also noted that high immune complex levels paralleled severe depression. They conclude that ‘an aetiopathogenic role of Borna disease virus in mood disorders seems considerably strengthened, given the significant coincidence of severe disease and antigenemia’. CK