title: HTLVI antibodies in multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases.
abstract: The sera and the CSFs from 157 Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients and 43 other neurological diseases (OND) cases have been evaluated for the presence of HTLVI antibodies. A commercial passive agglutination assay (PPA), an indirect fluorescence assay (IFA), and a Western Immunoblotting (WIB) performed in our laboratories have been employed. No OND samples showed HTLVI antibodies, while 14 sera and 1 CSF from MS patients resulted positive by PPA and 4 sera were positive with the IFA. When tested with WIB 6 MS sera showed a reactivity against one or more HTLVI proteins. Our results lead us to affirm that in a small number of MS patients, when sensitive tests are employed, it is possible to observe an antibody response toward proteins that share one or more epitope with HTLVI antigens.
authors.affiliation: Multiple Sclerosis Center, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ferrante
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seresella
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Cocuzza
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Caputo
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cattaneo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Achilli
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Cazzullo
mesh_terms: D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D006801:Humans; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000276:immunology*; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies