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The autoimmune features of acute transverse myelopathy
Author(s) -
Abramsky Oded,
Teitelbaum Dvora
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.410020106
Subject(s) - immunology , medicine , myelopathy , myelin basic protein , encephalomyelitis , myelin , multiple sclerosis , pathogenesis , neuroimmunology , spinal cord , autoimmune disease , acute transverse myelitis , antigen , experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis , neuritis , in vivo , central nervous system , transverse myelitis , immune system , biology , antibody , psychiatry , microbiology and biotechnology
Lymphocytes from patients with acute transverse myelopathy (ATM) were shown to undergo a specific and significant transformation when cultured in vitro in the presence of either the central nervous myelin basic encephalitogenic protein (BE) or the peripheral nerve myelin P 2 protein. A similar pattern of response was demonstrated in acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and in acute myeloradiculitis. Lymphocytes from patients suffering from other autoimmune neurological disorders or other neurological diseases affecting the spinal cord showed no response to these immunologically related antigens, which have previously been found to have the capacity of inducing experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, either alone or with experimental allergic neuritis, when injected into animals. The specific in vitro response to BE and P 2 suggests that in vivo sensitization of lymphocytes to such self‐antigens occurs in ATM and that a cell‐mediated, probably postinfectious autoimmune mechanism may be an important factor in the pathogenesis of the disease.