Multiple sclerosis with and without CSF bands: clinically indistinguishable but immunogenetically distinct.
We sought to determine whether Swedish patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) with and without oligoclonal bands (OCBs) in the CSF constitute distinct subpopulations, clinically and immunogenetically. Our findings indicate that OCB-negative MS shares the same clinical features as OCB-positive MS regarding female predominance, age at onset, proportion of primary progressive cases, rate of MRI positivity, and disease severity. Our HLA-DRB1 genotyping results suggest, however, that OCB-positive and OCB-negative MS are immunogenetically distinct.
Imrell
Kerstin
K
Division of Neurology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. kerstin.imrell@ki.se
Landtblom
Anne-Marie
AM
Hillert
Jan
J
Masterman
Thomas
T
D005260:Female; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D043025:Oligoclonal Bands / Q000097:blood / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000276:immunology*; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology
D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D043025:Oligoclonal Bands