title: Serum autoantibodies to neurofilament proteins in sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: Anti-neurofilament (NF) autoantibodies were searched for by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) in the serum from 85 sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients, 98 healthy controls and 79 patients with unrelated immunological diseases (Guillain-Barré syndrome, myasthenia gravis and multiple sclerosis). ELISA cutoff value was determined as mean control levels +2 SD and it corresponded to a specificity of 94%. Such high level antibodies were detected in 24.7% of ALS patients contrasting with 12.6% of neurological controls (P<0.05) and only 6.1% of healthy subjects (P<5.10[-4]). In ALS, anti-NF antibodies were significantly associated with a slow evolution, as measured by the mean time spent in the initial functional states. They did not relate with age, sex and clinical form. The predominant isotype of the anti-NF antibodies was IgM lambda by ELISA. In contrast to negative sera, indirect immunohistochemical studies demonstrated that most sera positive for anti-NF antibodies reacted with axons with predominant isotypes restricted to IgM lambda. By using Western blotting, small amounts of serum monoclonal IgM were found with a high frequency in anti-NF antibody-positive patients. These results suggest the possible involvement of anti-NF antibodies in an autoimmune process in a subgroup of ALS patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Limoges, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Couratier
authors.forename: F H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Preud'homme
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Clavelou
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sindou
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Vallat
authors.forename: M O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Jauberteau
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000276:immunology*; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D010507:Periodicity
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins