Diagnostic value of oligoclonal band detected by isoelectric focusing with immunoblotting in inflammatory demyelinating diseases in nervous system

Abstract

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of oligoclonal band (OB) detected by isoelectric focusing (IEF) with immunoblotting in inflammatory demyelinating diseases (IDD) in nervous system.Methods Serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) OB was detected by IEF with immunoblotting in 112 patients with IDD ( multiple sclerosis ( MS):n = 48;neuromyelitis optica ( NMO):n = 21:acute disseminated encephalomyelitis ( ADEM):n = 4;secondary IDD from systemic autoimmune diseases:n = 19;peripheral nervous system IDD:n =20) and 24 patients with non-inflammatory neurological disease (NIND).Results CSF-restricted OB was detected in 91.7% (44/48) of MS patients,23.8% (5/21) of NMO patients(x2nmO vs MS= 32.679),1/4 of ADEM patients (Fisher' s excact test),15.8% (3/19) of secondary IDD patients (x2secondary IDD vs MS = 37.425 ),0 of peripheral nervous system IDD patients (x2peripheral nervous system IDD vs MS =37.425) and 0 of NIND patients (x2NIND vs MS =37.425).MS patients had significantly higher percentage of patients with CSF-restricted OB ( all P ＜0.01),compared with NIND and other IDD patients.The sensitivity and specificity of OB detected by IEF with immunoblotting for MS were 91.7% and 89.8%,which were higher than that of OB detected by other methods.Identical serum and CSF OB ( mirror pattern ) was detected in 2 of 4 ADEM patients and 1 of 48 MS patients.Conclusion IEF with immunoblotting to detect OB is a reliable method of diagnosis for MS. Key words: Isoelectric focusing; Immunoblotting; Oligoclonal bands; Demyelinating diseases; Multiple sclerosis