Anti-John Cunningham Virus antibody prevalence in multiple sclerosis patients in Turkey

Exposure to john cunningham virus (jcv) has been associated with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (pml) in multiple sclerosis (ms) patients under specific treatments. in order to assess the identifiable risks of turkish relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (rrms) patients, the seroprevalence rate of jcv antibodies was investigated and compared with demographic and therapy related factors. serum samples were collected from 308 rrms patients at 24 centers, and tested by stratify jcv assay for the presence of anti-jcv antibodies. also, demographic, disease and treatment data were collected at the same time and were used for analysis of associations with seropositivity. the prevalence of anti-jcv antibodies was observed to be 68.2%, which is higher than most countries. there was a trend in terms of higher seroprevalence of antibodies in older patients, and male patients. there was no association with previous natalizumab use, but there was a significantly higher seroprevalence in patients who used immunosuppressant therapies (p<0.05). jcv prevalence rate is observed to be high in turkish ms patients, therefore it would be beneficial to use this marker as a risk stratification tool in clinical decision making. mefkure eraksoy has received honoraria for advisory boards and lectures/congress support from biogen/idec, bayer healthcare, novartis, merck and teva.huseyin dib, cunay ulku and deniz uren are employees of gen pharmaceuticals.this study was funded by biogen idec and gen pharmaceuticals, turkey.