Anti-aquaporin-4 antibody in Chinese patients with central nervous system inflammatory demyelinating disorders. Long Y, Qiu W, Hu X, Peng F, Lu Z, Wang Y, Yang Y. Source Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China; Department of Neurology, Clinical College, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, 19 Nonglinxia Road, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China.
Background: Antibodies to aquaporin-4 (AQP4-Ab), known as NMO-IgG, are a sensitive and specific marker for neuromyelitis optica (NMO).
Background: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is characterized by severe optic neuritis and longitudinally extended transverse myelitis. A serum autoantibody against aquaporin-4 (AQP4), a water channel densely expressed on astrocytes, has been detected exclusively in NMO and the high-risk syndrome. Pathologically, an extensive loss of AQP4 with perivascular depositions of activated complements (C9neo) as well as immunoglobulins is seen in NMO lesions, and infiltration of neutrophils is not uncommon in those lesions.
Background: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a neurological disease characterized by optic neuritis and transverse myelitis with long spinal cord lesion. Recently, NMO-IgG, which recognizes the aquaporin-4 (AQP-4), was identified in sera from patients with NMO. AQP-4 is a water channel expressed in astrocytes and ependymal cells throughout the brain and spinal cord
INTRODUCTION: Loss of aquaporin 4 and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) with necrosis and demyelination is a prominent pathologic feature of neuromyelitis optica (NMO). However, the clinicopathologic significance of astrocytic damage and its relation with demyelination are unknown