BACKGROUND: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a disease of the CNS characterized by severe optic neuritis and longitudinally extended transverse myelitis. Recent studies suggest that anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibodies, NMO-specific biomarkers, are pathogenic and target AQP4-expressing astrocytes in NMO, although an additional event (T-cell response or infection) should occur for anti-AQP4 antibodies and complements to pass through the blood-brain barrier and cause the CNS lesions
Astrocytes are specialized glial cells that outnumber neurons by over fivefold. They contiguously tile the entire central nervous system (CNS) and exert many essential complex functions in the healthy CNS
Neuromyelitis optica (NMO)-immunoglobulin G (IgG) is a clinically validated serum biomarker that distinguishes relapsing central nervous system (CNS) infl ammatory demyelinating disorders related to NMO from multiple sclerosis.
There is a complex, diverse array of “preceding environmental events” and perhaps unconnected immune-related events which are often associated with the period before patients are diagnosed with NMO. In this review we discuss in detail how the different isoform structures of AQP4 in different membrane locales and in different cell types might be related to pathology. Changes in AQP4 expression in CNS and non-CNS tissue can be regulated by inflammatory mediators induced during and following infection or by underlying autoimmunity and can result in the induction of AQP4-specific lymphocytes and ensuing pathogenesis.
OBJECTIVE: The serum of most neuromyelitis optica (NMO) patients contains autoantibodies (NMO-IgGs) directed against the aquaporin-4 (AQP4) water channel located on astrocyte foot processes in the perivessel and subpial areas of the brain. Our objectives were to determine the source of central nervous system (CNS) NMO-IgGs and their role in disease pathogenesis. METHODS: Fluorescence-activated cell sorting and single-cell reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction were used to identify overrepresented plasma cell immunoglobulin (Ig) sequences in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of an NMO patient after a first clinical attack
Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a severe inflammatory CNS disorder of putative autoimmune aetiology, which predominantly affects the spinal cord and optic nerves. Recently, a highly specific serum reactivity to CNS microvessels, subpia and Virchow–Robin spaces was described in patients with NMO [called NMO–IgG (NMO–immunoglobulin G)]
There are no specific treatments for patients with acute, severe neurological deficits caused by neuromyelitis optica (NMO) who fail to recover after treatment with high-dose corticosteroids. We evaluated the clinical response of anti-tuberculosis treatment (ATT) in patients suffering from steroid-refractory NMO, and investigated the correlation between NMO and tuberculous infection of the central nervous system (CNS)