Researchers at National Jewish Health have discovered a type of cell that may contribute to autoimmune disease. The findings also suggest why diseases such as lupus, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis strike women more frequently than men
This was written by John, who is between the MS/NMO diagnosis.? I wanted to share it with you as I found it to be very positive and uplifting.? Grace A NEW CHAPTER. The above photo is of my daughter heading out the door for her day at kindergarten: a new chapter. This day closes a chapter in my life.
Devic’s syndrome was first described in 1870 by Sir Thomas Allbutt (what a name to have had as a kid!) who pointed out an association between myelitis and optic nerve disorder.? In 1894, Eugene Devic and his student Fernand Gault described 16 patients who had lost vision in one or both eyes and developed spastic weakness, sensory loss, and incontinence.? The other name of the condition was neuromyelitis optica (NMO). A major breakthrough came in 2004 when a specific marker NMO-IgG was found for the disorder [1].? IgG stands for immunoglobulin (a kind of antibody).
Imaging Immune-Mediated Depression and Cognitive Impairment in Autoimmune Neurologic Diseases: MRS of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis and Transverse Myselitis Adam I. Kaplin, M.D., Ph.D.
Unlike other mammalian AQPs, multiple tetramers of AQP4 associate in the plasma membrane to form peculiar structures called Orthogonal Arrays of Particles (OAPs), that are observable by freeze-fracture electron microscopy (FFEM). However, FFEM cannot give information about the composition of OAPs of different sizes, and due to its technical complexity is not easily applicable as a routine technique. Recently, we employed the 2D gel electrophoresis BN-SDS/PAGE that for the first time enabled the biochemical isolation of AQP4-OAPs from several tissues.
Background: The identification of biomarkers able to improve the differential diagnosis between multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is challenging because of a different prognosis and response to treatment. Growing evidence indicates that brain and CSF N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) concentration is a useful marker for characterising different phases of axonal pathology in demyelinating diseases, and preliminary studies suggest that increased serum NAA levels may be a telltale sign of acute neuronal damage or defective NAA metabolism in oligodendrocytes
Objectives: the aim of our study was to investigate whether the presence of IgG-NMO antibody is associated with a different pattern of response at visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in patients affected by neuromyelites optica spectrum of disorders (NMOsd) with optic neuritis (ON). Methods: we retrospectively studied clinical, immunological and neurophysiological data from 28 patients affected by NMOsd who presented at least one optic neuritis (16 patients bilateral and 12 unilateral).
Background: Neuromyelitis optica is an autoimmune disease usually restricted to spinal cord and optic nerves. Recently, an immunological marker (NMO-IgG) directed against the aquaporin-4 (AQP4) has been found in this disease. Although it usefulness in NMO diagnosis was established, its correlation with disease activity and its interest for NMO follow up was not demonstrated yet
We retrospectively analyzed and compared patterns of anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) immunoreactivity of autopsied brains of 2 patients with classical multiple sclerosis (MS) and 2 patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO). Serological examination for NMO-IgG was not performed in all the cases. We confirmed that the expression of AQP4 is strongly inhibited in demyelinating lesions of NMO, accompanied by the loss of grial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression
Immune cells cross the inflamed blood–brain barrier. But it’s unclear how brain inflammation begins before immune-cell entry. Studies of a model of multiple sclerosis start to solve this ‘chicken and egg’ conundrum
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) while neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory disease of the CNS that selectively affects the optic nerves and spinal cord. In Asians, MS is rare; however, when it appears, the selective and severe involvement of the optic nerves and spinal cord is characteristic. This form, termed opticospinal MS (OSMS), has similar features to the relapsing form of NMO in Western populations
Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory disease mainly affecting the optic nerve and spinal cord.