Rare Neurological Syndromes Associated with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

A 68-year-old woman presented with subacute onset of limbic symptoms, cerebellar ataxia and polyneuropathy. While the initial findings were suggestive of a paraneoplastic syndrome, she later developed liver and kidney problems during the follow-up. The patient was finally diagnosed as having definite systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) based on clinical and serological findings. She made a remarkable recovery following treatment with prednisolone and cyclophosphamide. This is the first occurrence of simultaneous involvement of the peripheral nerves and cerebellum in a SLE patient. (Archives of Neuropsychiatry 2010; 47: 81-2

Antinuclear antibodies in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) is a prototype for idiopathic generalized epilepsy syndrome, which is usually associated with complex inheritance. To delineate if immune mechanisms might also be participating in JME, we screened the sera of 19 JME and 21 healthy control patients for anti-neuronal antibodies using immunohistochemistry and Western blot techniques. JME patients' sera showed relatively but not significantly increased antinuclear/nucleolar antibody incidence and multiple Western blot bands as compared to healthy controls, suggesting humoral immune mechanisms might be participating in JME pathogenesis

Predictive value of early serum cytokine changes on long-term interferon beta-1a efficacy in multiple sclerosis

WOS: 000357245400005PubMed ID: 25026220Background: In a previous study, we had evaluated short-term effects of interferon beta-1a (IFNB-1a) 44 mu g s.c. three times per week treatment on serum levels of IFN-gamma (IFNG), IL-23, IL-17, IL-10, IL-9, IL-4 and TGF-beta (TGFB) and found a reduction only in IL-17 and IL-23 levels after 2 months of treatment. Methods: Using the same multiple sclerosis (MS) cohort, we assessed the predictive value of early cytokine level changes (difference between 2nd month and baseline levels as measured by ELISA) on the efficacy of long-term IFNB-1a treatment. Results: The alteration in IFNG levels of patients without any relapse was statistically lower than that of patients having one or more relapses (p = 0.019, Student's t-test). When patients with or without expanded disability severity scale (EDSS) progression were compared, none of the cytokine level changes showed a significant difference between groups. IL-17 and IL-23 level changes did not predict relapse and EDSS progression in IFNB-1a-treated MS patients. Conclusion: Our results show that the predictive power of early IFNG measurement on relapse occurrence may potentially extend a time span of several years

Amphiphysin Autoimmunity: Associated Neurological Syndromes and Tumors in The Turkish Population

Objective: Our aim was to determine the clinical accompaniments of the amphiphysin autoimmunity in the Turkish population

Enhanced IL-6 production in aquaporin-4 antibody positive neuromyelitis optica patients

Anti-aquaporin-4 (Aqp-4) antibody and complement system have emerged as major pathogenic factors in neuromyelitis optica (NMO). To test the significance of interleukin-6 (IL-6), another important humoral immunity factor, in NMO pathogenesis, we measured serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) IL-6 levels of 23 NMO, 11 transverse myelitis, 16 optic neuritis, 27 relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis patients, and 20 neurologically normal controls. NMO and transverse myelitis patients had higher serum and CSF IL-6 levels than other groups. Particularly, anti-Aqp-4 positive NMO patients (n = 12) had higher serum/CSF IL-6 levels than anti-Aqp-4 negative patients (n = 11) and CSF IL-6 levels correlated with anti-Aqp-4 levels and disease severity of the NMO patients. Our results suggest that IL-6 is involved in NMO pathogenesis presumably via anti-Aqp-4 associated mechanisms

Aquaporin-4 antibodies are not present in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension

Objectives: We aimed to investigate anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP-4) water channel antibodies, affecting cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) secretion and absorption, in idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) patients

Effect of short-term interferon-beta treatment on cytokines in multiple sclerosis: Significant modulation of IL-17 and IL-23

WOS: 000306159200032PubMed ID: 22652415Therapeutic effect of interferon-beta (IFN-beta) treatment has been associated with modulation of the balance between Th1, Th17, Th2 and regulatory T (Treg) cells, whereas the impact of disease modifying drugs on Th9-immunity in multiple sclerosis (MS) has not been studied. To investigate the short-term effects of IFN-beta treatment on cytokines in MS, we determined serum levels of IL-17, IL-23, IL-10, IL-4, IFN-gamma, IL-9 and TGF-beta in relapsing remitting MS patients before and 2 months after IFN-beta treatment by ELISA. MS patients showed increased IL-17, IL-23 and IL-4 levels and decreased IL-9 levels as compared to healthy controls. IFN-beta treatment only reduced IL-17 and IL-23 levels, whereas the levels of other cytokines remained unchanged. IFN-beta treatment appears to exert its earliest therapeutic effect on Th17-immunity. The influence of IL-9 on MS pathogenesis needs to be further studied. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved