Concerning the relationships between genes, risk factors and immunity in Alzheimer's disease, Autism, Bipolar disorder , multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and chronic fatigue
Anti-JC virus antibodies in a large German natalizumab-treated multiple sclerosis cohort.
To investigate the rate of seropositivity of anti-JC virus (JCV)
antibodies in a German multiple sclerosis (MS) cohort treated with natalizumab in
the postmarketing setting and to assess anti-JCV serostatus in samples obtained
before diagnosis of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).
METHODS:This was a blinded, retrospective cross-sectional and longitudinal
analysis for anti-JCV antibodies using a confirmatory 2-step ELISA on 2,782 blood
samples obtained from 2,253 patients nationwide for routine testing for
anti-natalizumab antibodies during open-label treatment between 2007 and 2010.
RESULTS:Of the natalizumab-treated patients with MS, 58.8% tested positive for
anti-JCV antibodies. The rate of seropositivity was higher in males and increased
with age, with a plateau between age intervals 20-29 and 30-39 years. In
longitudinal analyses, 19 of 194 (9.8%) patients converted from anti-JCV
antibody-negative to seropositive status over 7.7 months; 4.7% reverted from
antibody-positive to seronegative status over 7.9 months. Antibody levels,
especially in the latter group, were low, indicating fluctuations around the
lower cut point of the assay. Neither anti-JCV serostatus nor antibody levels
were associated with immunosuppressive pretreatment, duration of natalizumab
treatment, or anti-natalizumab antibodies. All samples obtained from 10 patients
who developed PML were seropositive (13 samples before PML diagnosis [2.0-37.6
months]; 2 samples at diagnosis). Antibody levels in these samples were higher
than those in samples from seropositive patients who did not develop PML.
CONCLUSIONS:These data argue for the potential clinical utility of JCV serology
for PML risk stratification. However, further investigations of fluctuations in
serostatus and of antibody levels for a more precise understanding of the
predictive value are warranted.
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1 comment:
Hello,
Nice post. Antibodies are proteins made by a B-cell which can recognize and attach to specific sites on antigens to block their effect. I like the way you start and then conclude your thoughts. Thanks for this information...
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