The Presence of Autoantibodies Against Vascular and Nervous Tissue in Sera From
Patients with Neuro-Behçet s Disease
#MMPMID28360614
Colpak A?
; Kalyoncu U
; Gürsoy Özdemir Y
Noro Psikiyatr Ars
2014[Jun]; 51
(2
): 141-147
PMID28360614
show ga
INTRODUCTION: Behçet's disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown
aetiology that affects multiple organ systems. Since the diagnosis of this
disease mainly relies on clinical criteria, a diagnostic laboratory test is
required especially for neuro-Behçet's patients without systemic involvement.
METHOD: In this study, we searched for the presence of autoantibodies against
brain tissue, by means of indirect immunofluorescent staining technique in sera
obtained from patients with neuro-Behçet's disease, based on reports that humoral
immune dysregulation may play a role in susceptibility to Behçet's disease. After
pre-absorbtion of sera with guinea pig liver powder to reduce nonspecific
staining, serum samples were applied to mouse brain sections and immunoreactivity
was detected with fluorescein (FITC)-conjugated goat antibody against human IgG.
RESULTS: Ten sera from neuro-Behçet's patients and 10 age-matched control sera
were screened for immunoreactivity. We detected specific immunoreactivity to both
parenchymal and vascular brain structures in the patients' sera. Parenchymal
vessel immunopositivity was detected in 8 of 10 patients, whereas only two of
control sera showed no significant parenchymal vascular immunoreactivity
(p=.025). In addition to vascular immunoreactivity, filamentous and reticular
immunopositive structures were detected in brain sections of 5 out of 10
patients. No such immunoreactivity was detected in sections incubated with
control sera (p=.016). CONCLUSION: We detected a specific immunoreactivity
against vascular and parenchymal filamentous structures in neuro-Behçet patients'
sera. Humoral autoimmunity may play a role in the pathogenesis of neuro-Behçet's
disease in addition to cellular immune response. Findings of this preliminary
study will be evaluated with a large number of patients and controls, to
determine whether it is the cause or the result and, further studies are underway
to disclose the nature of epitope to which the immunoreactivity was directed
against and to develop a diagnostic laboratory method for investigating central
nervous system involvement in Behçet's patients.
free
free
free
