title: Antibodies to peripheral nerve myelin may occur without clinical neuropathy in healthy persons.
abstract: To study the role of autoantibodies against peripheral nerve myelin (PNM), sera from 255 healthy blood donors were investigated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and persons with anti-PNM antibodies were further studied clinically and by neurography, 25 blood donors (10%) had anti-PNM antibodies of IgM, IgG or IgA isotype. The 12 blood donors with anti-PNM antibodies of IgM isotype showed only slightly decreased nerve conduction velocities compared to 12 blood donors without anti-PNM antibodies. Two blood donors with anti-PNM antibodies of IgM and IgG isotype respectively showed a clinical, previously undiagnosed polyneuropathy (PN), verified by neurography. However, also one blood donor without anti-PNM antibodies had a clinical and neurography-verified PN. We conclude that antibodies against PNM may occur in healthy persons without evidence of a clinical or subclinical PN.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vrethem
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Skogh
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Berlin
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Holmgren
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ernerudh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000276:immunology*; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000276:immunology*; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies