CLINICALLY INSIGNIFICANT (NATURAL) AUTOANTIBODIES AGAINST ACETYL CHOLINESTERASE IN THE SERA OF PATIENTS WITH A VARIETY OF NEUROLOGIC, MUSCULAR AND AUTOIMMUNE-DISEASES

Acetyl cholinesterase (AChE) antibodies were shown to be associated wi th myasthenia-like neuromuscular disease. However, it is not clear whe ther they cause the disease, or their presence is secondary to the dis ease or an unrelated epiphenomenon. Therefore, AChE antibodies were st udied in the sera of 135 patients with neurologic, muscular and autoim mune diseases, using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immuno blotting and enzyme inhibition assay. In 12 sera the AChE binding by E LISA was greater than 2 standard deviations (SDs) above the mean value of the 20 healthy controls, However, this increased binding was not d isease-specific, had no clinical correlates and could not be demonstra ted using Western blotting and AChE enzyme inhibition assay, suggestin g that these antibodies are naturally occurring, pathogenically unimpo rtant autoantibodies. The finding also supports a possible pathogenic role for the previously reported, high titer, high affinity, inhibitor y AChE antibodies in the neuromuscular disease. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scie nce B.V.