DIFFERENT ANTIGANGLIOSIDE ANTIBODY PATTERN BETWEEN RELAPSING-REMITTING AND PROGRESSIVE MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS

Introduction - Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disorder, but an unique antigen has not been found. Antiganglioside antibodies (AGA) have been reported in MS, nevertheless, a clinical significance of AG A in MS has not been established. The aims of this study were to study AGA in sera of MS patients and to investigate relationships between A GA and clinical course of MS. Material and methods - 42 patients with MS who fulfilled the criteria of clinically definite disease (59% RRMS , 21% SPMS, 20% PPMS), 89 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus a nd 36 healthy controls were studied. A modification of previously desc ribed ELISA techniques was used to estimate serum IgG and IgM anti-GM1 , asialoGM1 and anti-GD1a antibodies. Results - 47.6% of the patients showed AGA reactivity. Anti-GM1 was found in 38% of MS patients, anti- asialoGM1 in 23.8% and anti-GD1a in 33.3%. IgG was the isotype more co mmonly found. A correlation between presence of AGA and progressive di sease and between anti-GD1a and PPMS was found. Conclusions - The pres ence of AGA in MS patients is elevated. In contrast with the results o f others authors, a strong correlation between AGA and progressive dis ease is showed in our study.