Thyroid antibodies in aquaporin-4 antibody positive central nervous system autoimmunity and multiple sclerosis.

摘要

Emerging evidence points at a key role for the aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody in the pathophysiology of neuromyelitis optica (NMO), a severe disabling disorder of the central nervous system (CNS). Antibody detection rates in up to 80% of NMO enable distinction of AQP4 antibody-positive CNS autoimmune disorders (AQP4 CNS AI) from multiple sclerosis (MS). Relapsing inflammatory optic neuritis (up to 25%) and longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (up to 55%) are syndromes associated with lower AQP4 antibody detection rates, as found using second generation recom-binant serological assays