Specificities of multiple sclerosis cerebrospinal fluid and serum antibodies against mimotopes

In order to characterize antigenic epitopes specifically targeted by the im mune response of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), the antibody specif icities of cerebrospinal fluids (CSF) and sera from the same MS patients ha ve been analyzed using a random pentadecapeptide library displayed on phage . The 3 peptides (mimotopes) selected with MS sera were not disease-specifi c. In contrast, the combination of 4 MS CSF selected mimotopes, allowed the detection of specific antibodies in 21 of 60 MS CSF whereas only 2 of 27 C SF from patients with Other neurological diseases equally recognized the 4 mimotopes. Some amino acid similarities were found between two MS CSF selec ted mimotopes and two envelope regions (319-329 and 433-443, respectively) of MSRV (multiple-sclerosis-associated retrovirus) and the related endogeno us retrovirus HERV-W. (C) 1999 Academic Press.