Effect of Epstein-Barr virus infection on children suffered from juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Abstract

Objective To study the effect of Epstein-Barr virus(EBV) infection on the children suffered from juvenile idiopathic arthritis(JIA). Methods The clinical and laboratory data of 167 children suffered from JIA were retrospectively analyzed.These children were divided into 2 groups according to if they had complications or not (such as organ involved, infection, etc). The differences about the history, laboratory tests of 2 groups of EBV infected and non-infected group were respectively analyzed. Results In the group of the 132 cases of JIA children with no complications, there were significant differences between EBV infected group and the non-infected group in onset age, erythrocyte sedimentation rate[21.00(9.00, 46.50) mm/1 h vs9.00(3.00, 24.00) mm/1 h], CD8%[(26.88±6.72)% vs (22.79±6.61)%], CD4%/CD8%[1.40(1.20, 1.75) vs 1.60(1.30, 2.00) ], IgA[1.70(0.88, 2.74) g/L vs 0.66(0.33, 1.14) g/L], IgG[11.40(9.73, 14.30) g/L vs 9.46(7.71, 11.90) g/L], IgE[8.41(23.93, 151.42)×103 IU/L vs 22.80(8.55, 69.75)×103 IU/L](all P<0.05). In the 35 cases with complications, there were significant differences between EBV infected group and the non-infected group in age of onset[(83.82±44.13)months vs (33.88±16.36) months], CD4%/CD8%[(1.32±0.41) vs (1.71±0.38)] and IgA[(1.50±1.04) g/L vs (0.47±0.27) g/L] and IgA (all P<0.05). Conclusions The pathogenesis of JIA is not very clear so far, EBV infection may be involved in the occurrence and development process, the children occurred JIA with EBV infection, the inflammatory reaction maybe more obvious and more difficult to control.The immune disorders maybe more significant.After all, EBV infection has a certain impact on JIA, but the specific impacts and mechanisms need to be further studied. Key words: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis; Epstein-Barr virus; Child