HUMAN-LEUKOCYTE ANTIGENS AND CYTOKINE EXPRESSION IN CEREBRAL INFLAMMATORY DEMYELINATIVE LESIONS OF X-LINKED ADRENOLEUKODYSTROPHY AND MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS

The two most common forms of X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) are the cerebral forms (CER) with an inflammatory demyelinating reaction that resembles multiple sclerosis, and adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN) whi ch involves primarily the spinal cord and in which the inflammatory re action is mild or absent. We found no significant association between the childhood cerebral farm (CCER) or AMN and the human leukocyte (HLA ) class I and class II antigens including the class II DR2 haplotypes associated with multiple sclerosis. Inflammatory cytokine (tumor necro sis facror-alpha, interleukin-1 beta, interleukin-4, interleukin-6 and interferon-gamma) gene expression was increased in multiple sclerosis brain lesions, as has been reported previously, but much less so in C ER brain lesions, These findings suggest that the pathogenesis of the inflammatory response in X-ALD differs from that in multiple sclerosis .