Abstract
Antibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte antigens have been found in the immunoreactive brain lesions of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. Recently it has been proposed that these antibodies can be used as a prognostic marker in the course of disease. However, the serum levels of these autoantibodies during different phases of disease activity or after an immunomodulatory therapy have been poorly investigated. In this study the serum levels of anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) (directed against the epitopes 1–26 and 15–40) and anti-myelin basic protein (MBP) antibodies were sequentially measured in the same MS patient either in relapse or remission phases. We found that MS patients in the relapse phase had higher serum anti-MOG (peptides 1–26 and 15–40) and anti-MBP antibody levels than controls. In addition, the levels of anti-MOG 1–26 were also elevated during the relapse as compared with the remission phase but no significant changes were found in the levels of anti-MOG 15–40 of anti-MBP antibodies. We also evaluated the effect of interferon-beta (β) therapy on anti-myelin antibodies. 1-year of interferon-β treatment did not induce any changes in the levels of anti-MOG and anti-MBP antibodies. In conclusion, these data indicate that the use of peripheral levels of autoantibodies against MOG and MBP as marker of multiple sclerosis might be complicated by the phase of disease activity and by the epitope of the MOG protein used.
Highlights
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS), characterized by infiltration of macrophages and lymphocytes into the CNS and subsequent immunologic destruction of myelin sheath
To avoid this problem we measured the serum levels of anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) and anti-myelin basic protein (MBP) antibodies in the same MS patient and evaluated whether the acute and the stable phase of disease are characterized by different titers of these antibodies
Levels of anti-MOG and anti-MBP antibodies measured in the same MS patients at different phases of disease
Summary
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS), characterized by infiltration of macrophages and lymphocytes into the CNS and subsequent immunologic destruction of myelin sheath. A previous study has claimed that the most frequently recognised amino acid sequences are 1–26 and 63–87 in MS patients and 14–39 and 63–87 in healthy controls [14] This concept was supported by findings showing the presence of MOG-reactive antibodies associated with disintegrating vesicular myelin debris in acute demyelinating MS lesions [20,29]. One possible explanation could be that since MS patients are characterized by a wide range of degree of autoimmune inflammation the selection of the appropriate and comparable experimental groups (either in relapse or remission) could be difficult To avoid this problem we measured the serum levels of anti-MOG (directed against the epitopes 1–26 and 15–40) and anti-MBP antibodies in the same MS patient and evaluated whether the acute and the stable phase of disease are characterized by different titers of these antibodies. To elucidate the question of whether myelin antibodies are deleterious or play a defensive role in MS, we tested the hypothesis that interferon-beta (β) treatment induces significant changes in the circulating levels of these autoantibodies
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