Although measles antibody levels decrease in the general population, an increase is evident in the serum and CSF of patients with MS.
AMSTERDAM—The level of measles virus antibody increases with age and duration of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the serum and CSF of patients with MS, according to research presented at the Fifth Joint Triennial Congress of the European and Americas Committees for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS/ACTRIMS).
The synthesis of measles antibodies continues to increase many years after MS has been diagnosed, according to the study. In healthy controls, however, levels of measles antibody decrease slightly with age.
Comparing Antibody Titres in MS Patients and the General Population
After a healthy person is infected with or vaccinated against measles, his or her measles antibody titres decrease over time. But most patients with MS have higher measles antibody titres in their serum and CSF than the general population does, according to Cecilia Ahlgren, PhD, of the Institute of Clinical Neuroscience at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Dr. Ahlgren and her colleagues tested the level of measles antibody in the serum and CSF of 161 patients with MS between the ages of 15 and 49. The age of MS onset among the patients ranged from 10 to 39.
The team included a control group of 50 healthy blood donors who each gave samples of their serum and CSF. Members of the control group ranged in age from 18 to 57.
The investigators sought to determine whether increased synthesis of measles antibody was a systemic phenomenon or was confined to the CSF. They analyzed the levels of measles antibody in serum and CSF through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The researchers then analyzed correlations between antibody titres and age, and antibody titres and MS duration using linear regression.
MS May Sound a General Alarm in the Body
Measles antibody levels increased with age and MS duration, and antibody synthesis occurred in the CSF and serum, according to Dr. Ahlgren and her colleagues. Increasing measles antibody titres are most likely “part of a polyspecific immune response, probably with no pathogenic role,” they wrote.
B cells and plasma cells are considered important in the production of antibodies, but the researchers were not certain about whether B cell follicles caused the increased antibody production seen in the study. Because increased antibody titres were found in the serum as well as the CSF, “our results point to a more general activation of B cells and plasma cells,” concluded the investigators.
—Erik Greb