Autoantibodies in patients with neuromyelitis optica

Abstract

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) which primarily involves the optic nerve and spinal cord. Aquaporin 4 (AQP4) is the main objective antigen, and its specific antibody was NMO-IgG. It was found in clinic that most of NMO-IgG-positive patients were female, whose clinical symptoms were more severe, bilateral optic neuritis (BON) or optic neuritis (ON) and myelitis were more likely to appear at the same time, and involved spinal segments were longer. Recent studies discovered that anti-aquaporin 1 (AQP1) and anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibodies existed in the serum of patients with NMO-IgG-negative. It was discovered that low proportions of women, more cases of long-segment spinal cord lesion, and rare cases of ON appeared in anti-AQP1 antibody-positive patients. Most of anti-MOG antibody-positive patients were male. ON was common, especially bilateral optic nerves involved at the same time, and thoracolumbar involvement was common. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2016.10.004