Identification of a pathogenic antibody response to native myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein in multiple sclerosis
Published online before print December 1, 2006
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.0607242103
( antibodies | axonal damage | demyelination | lentiviral expression )
Dun Zhou *, Rajneesh Srivastava *, Stefan Nessler *, Verena Grummel *, Norbert Sommer {dagger}, Wolfgang Brück {ddagger}, Hans-Peter Hartung *, Christine Stadelmann {ddagger}, and Bernhard Hemmer *{sect}
*Department of Neurology, Heinrich Heine University, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany; {dagger}Department of Neurology, Philipps University, 35033 Marburg, Germany; and {ddagger}Institute of Neuropathology, Georg August University, 37099 Göttingen, Germany
Edited by Michael Sela, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, and approved October 18, 2006 (received for review August 21, 2006)
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Although the cause of MS is still uncertain, many findings point toward an ongoing autoimmune response to myelin antigens. Because of its location on the outer surface of the myelin sheath and its pathogenicity in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model, myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) is one of the potential disease-causing self antigens in MS. However, the role of MOG in the pathogenesis of MS has remained controversial. In this study we addressed the occurrence of autoantibodies to native MOG and its implication for demyelination and axonal loss in MS. We applied a high-sensitivity bioassay, which allowed detecting autoantibodies that bind to the extracellular part of native MOG. Antibodies, mostly IgG, were found in sera that bound with high affinity to strictly conformational epitopes of the extracellular domain of MOG. IgG but not IgM antibody titers to native MOG were significantly higher in MS patients compared with different control groups with the highest prevalence in primary progressive MS patients. Serum autoantibodies to native MOG induced death of MOG-expressing target cells in vitro. Serum from MS patients with high anti-MOG antibody titers stained white matter myelin in rat brain and enhanced demyelination and axonal damage when transferred to autoimmune encephalomyelitis animals. Overall these findings suggest a pathogenic antibody response to native MOG in a subgroup of MS patients. |
