BackgroundSerum autoantibodies against the water channel aquaporin-4 (AQP4) are important diagnostic biomarkers and pathogenic factors for neuromyelitis optica (NMO). However, AQP4-IgG are absent in 5-40% of all NMO patients and the target of the autoimmune response in these patients is unknown. Since recent studies indicate that autoimmune responses to myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) can induce an NMO-like disease in experimental animal models, we speculate that MOG might be an autoantigen in AQP4-IgG seronegative NMO. Although high-titer autoantibodies to human native MOG were mainly detected in a subgroup of pediatric acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, their role in NMO and High-risk NMO (HR-NMO; recurrent optic neuritis-rON or longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis-LETM) remains unresolved.ResultsWe analyzed patients with definite NMO (n = 45), HR-NMO (n = 53), ADEM (n = 33), clinically isolated syndromes presenting with myelitis or optic neuritis (CIS, n = 32), MS (n = 71) and controls (n = 101; 24 other neurological diseases-OND, 27 systemic lupus erythematosus-SLE and 50 healthy subjects) for serum IgG to MOG and AQP4. Furthermore, we investigated whether these antibodies can mediate complement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC). AQP4-IgG was found in patients with NMO (n = 43, 96%), HR-NMO (n = 32, 60%) and in one CIS patient (3%), but was absent in ADEM, MS and controls. High-titer MOG-IgG was found in patients with ADEM (n = 14, 42%), NMO (n = 3, 7%), HR-NMO (n = 7, 13%, 5 rON and 2 LETM), CIS (n = 2, 6%), MS (n = 2, 3%) and controls (n = 3, 3%, two SLE and one OND). Two of the three MOG-IgG positive NMO patients and all seven MOG-IgG positive HR-NMO patients were negative for AQP4-IgG. Thus, MOG-IgG were found in both AQP4-IgG seronegative NMO patients and seven of 21 (33%) AQP4-IgG negative HR-NMO patients. Antibodies to MOG and AQP4 were predominantly of the IgG1 subtype, and were able to mediate CDC at high-titer levels.ConclusionsWe could show for the first time that a subset of AQP4-IgG seronegative patients with NMO and HR-NMO exhibit a MOG-IgG mediated immune response, whereas MOG is not a target antigen in cases with an AQP4-directed humoral immune response.
IntroductionCerebrospinal fluid collection by lumbar puncture (LP) is performed in the diagnostic workup of several neurological brain diseases. Reluctance to perform the procedure is among others due to a lack of standards and guidelines to minimize the risk of complications, such as post-LP headache or back pain.MethodsWe provide consensus guidelines for the LP procedure to minimize the risk of complications. The recommendations are based on (1) data from a large multicenter LP feasibility study (evidence level II-2), (2) systematic literature review on LP needle characteristics and post-LP complications (evidence level II-2), (3) discussion of best practice within the Joint Programme Neurodegenerative Disease Research Biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's Disease and Biomarkers for Multiple Sclerosis consortia (evidence level III).ResultsOur consensus guidelines address contraindications, as well as patient-related and procedure-related risk factors that can influence the development of post-LP complications.DiscussionWhen an LP is performed correctly, the procedure is well tolerated and accepted with a low complication rate.
We validated MRI lesion load, OCB and age at CIS as the strongest independent predictors of conversion to CDMS in this multicentre setting. A role for vitamin D is suggested but requires further investigation.
The choice of appropriate control group(s) is critical in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker research in multiple sclerosis (MS). There is a lack of definitions and nomenclature of different control groups and a rationalized application of different control groups. We here propose consensus definitions and nomenclature for the following groups: healthy controls (HCs), spinal anesthesia subjects (SASs), inflammatory neurological disease controls (INDCs), peripheral inflammatory neurological disease controls (PINDCs), non-inflammatory neurological controls (NINDCs), symptomatic controls (SCs). Furthermore, we discuss the application of these control groups in specific study designs, such as for diagnostic biomarker studies, prognostic biomarker studies and therapeutic response studies. Application of these uniform definitions will lead to better comparability of biomarker studies and optimal use of available resources. This will lead to improved quality of CSF biomarker research in MS and related disorders.
The levels of uric acid (UA), a natural peroxynitrite scavenger, were measured in sera from 240 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and 104 sex- and age-matched control patients with other neurological diseases (OND). The mean serum UA concentration was lower in the MS than in the OND group, but the difference did not reach the level of statistical significance (P = 0.068). However, the mean serum UA level from patients with active MS (202.6 + 67.1 mumol/l) was significantly lower than that in inactive MS patients (226.5 + 78.6 mumol/l; P = 0.046) and OND controls (P = 0.007). We found a significant inverse correlation of serum UA concentration with female gender (P = 0.0001), disease activity (P = 0.012) and duration (P = 0.017), and a trend towards an inverse correlation with disability as assessed by EDSS score, which did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.067). Finally, multivariate linear regression analyses showed that UA concentration was independently correlated with gender (P = 0.0001), disease activity (P = 0.014) and duration of the disease (P = 0.043) in MS patients. These findings suggest that serum UA might serve as a possible marker of disease activity in MS. They also provide support to the potential beneficial therapeutic effect of radical-scavenging substances in MS.
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