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Polyclonal IgM anti‐GM 1 ganglioside antibody in patients with motor neuron disease and variants
Author(s) -
SalazarGrueso Edgar F.,
Routbort Mark J.,
Martin Jay,
Dawson Glyn,
Roos Raymond P.
Publication year - 1990
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.410270517
Subject(s) - motor neuron , immunostaining , lower motor neuron , ganglioside , medicine , antibody , polyclonal antibodies , neuron , immunology , pathology , disease , biology , immunohistochemistry , biochemistry , psychiatry
Recent studies reported the presence of anti‐ganglioside antibodies in occasional patients with motor neuron disease. We found polyclonal serum IgM anti‐GM 1 antibodies by an anti‐GM 1 enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 9 (19%) of 48 patients with motor neuron disease. A comparable frequency of IgM anti‐GM 1 antibodies was found in 4 (10%) of 40 sera from patients with other neurological disease. Three (17%) of 18 sera from the patients with motor neuron disease and 2 (17%) of 12 sera from patients with other neurological diseases had anti‐GM 1 immunostaining as shown by thin layer chromatography immunoblot. One patient with a lower motor neuron variant of motor neuron disease or motor axonopathy without multifocal conduction block had a markedly elevated polyclonal IgM anti‐GM 1 ELISA titer (> 1:64,000) with prominent immunostaining of GM 1 , moderate immunostaining of GM 2 , and weak and inconsistent immunostaining of GD 1b by thin layer chromatography immunoblot. Treatment with prednisone resulted in clinical improvement despite increasing anti‐GM 1 antibody titers. These data indicate that patients with motor neuron disease have measurable levels of anti‐ganglioside antibodies as frequently as patients with other neurological diseases. This contrasts with a small subgroup of patients with a lower motor neuron variant of motor neuron disease or motor axonopathy who have markedly elevated levels of serum anti‐ganglioside antibodies and a clinical syndrome that is treatable with immunosuppression.