Mahboubeh Jazini - Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
Rasoul Roghanian - Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
Omid Mirmosayyeb - Isfahan Neuroscience Research Center, Al-Zahra Hospital, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. Student Research Committee, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Vahid Shaygannejad - Isfahan Neuroscience Research Center, Al-Zahra Hospital, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Sayyed Hamid Zarkesh Esfahani - Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Background: Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) is an autoimmune inflammation of the central nervoussystem in which autoantibodies are released against Aquaporin-4 (AQP-4), astrocytic waterchannels. The disease is characterized by transverse myelitis and optic neuritis. Viruses could beinflammatory agents in the brain. Due to such inflammatory reactions, autoantibodies would crossthe blood brain barrier. Therefore, recognizing the responsible viral agent may help us prevent ortreat NMO.Objectives: To investigate the probable association between Cytomegalovirus infection (CMV)and Neuromyelitis Optica.Materials & Methods: This descriptive study was performed on 25 patients with NMO, 30 patientswith Multiple Sclerosis (MS) referring to an academic MS Clinic and 30 healthy individuals inIsfahan City, Iran in 2016. In order to detect DNA of CMV in the sera of the studied groups, realtimePCR technique was used with hydrolyzing probes such as TaqMan. Beacon Designer 7 wasused to design a primer and probe. The Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis in SPSS 16.Results: Three study groups had no significant difference in terms of age (P=0.33) and gender(P=0.599). All of the samples were negative for CMV DNA. There was no significant differencebetween three groups of study (P=0.33).Conclusion: Regarding the negative real-time PCR results of all samples, and especially usinghigher specificity of primers and probes in detecting this virus, it can be inferred that no significantcorrelation exists between CMV infection and NMO disease.

Neuromyelitis Optica, Cytomegalovirus, Real-time polymerase chain reaction