Reduced Plasma Levels of 25-Hydroxycholesterol and Increased Cerebrospinal Fluid Levels of Bile Acid Precursors in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

摘要

Abstract Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune, inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS). We have measured the levels of over 20 non-esterified sterols in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients suffering from MS, inflammatory CNS disease, neurodegenerative disease and control patients. Analysis was performed following enzyme-assisted derivatisation by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC– MS ) exploiting multistage fragmentation ( MS n ). We found increased concentrations of bile acid precursors in CSF from each of the disease states and that patients with inflammatory CNS disease classified as suspected autoimmune disease or of unknown aetiology also showed elevated concentrations of 25-hydroxycholestertol (25-HC, P ? P ? P ? P ? P ? P ? cholesterol 25-hydroxylase in macrophages.