This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

A Nationwide Co-twin Study

Esko Kinnunen, MD; Martti Valle, MD; Liisa Piirainen, MSc; Marjaana Kleemola, MD; Marja-Leena Kantanen, MSc; Juhani Juntunen, MD; Matti Klockars, MD; Markku Koskenvuo, MD

Arch Neurol. 1990;47(7):743-746.

Abstract
• Serum viral antibody titers against 21 viruses were studied in 19 of 23 same-sex twin pairs with multiple sclerosis derived from the Finnish Twin Cohort. Thorough neurologic examinations showed two monozygotic pairs to be concordant, whereas all dizygotic pairs were discordant. Special attention was given to measles, mumps, and rubella viruses, against which the antibody levels were determined with the complement fixation, hemagglutination inhibition, hemolysis-ingel, and enzyme immunoassay methods. Epstein-Barr virus antibody levels were determined by enzyme assay. In pairwise comparisons, the measles, mumps, and Epstein-Barr virus-IgG antibody levels were more often elevated in the patients with multiple sclerosis, compared with the healthy co-twins. The same antibody levels were more often above the median in the diseased twin, compared with the healthy twin, but the difference was not significant. No human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I antibodies were found in any of the individuals examined. The total IgG, IgA, and IgM levels did not differ between the diseased and healthy subjects. The HLA types, severity of the disease, and cell-mediated immunity parameters did not influence antibody levels.

Author Affiliations
From the Clinical Neurosciences, Institute of Occupational Health (Drs Kinnunen, Juntunen, and Klockars), the National Public Health Institute (Drs Valle and Kleemola and Mss Piirainen and Kantanen), and the Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki (Dr Koskenvuo), Helsinki, Finland.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication December 22, 1989.

Reprint requests to Clinical Neurosciences, Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41 aA, SF-00250 Helsinki, Finland (Dr Kinnunen).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Human herpes virus 6 and multiple sclerosis: a Finnish twin study
Kuusisto et al.
Mult Scler 2008;14:54-58.
ABSTRACT  

Altered antibody pattern to Epstein-Barr virus but not to other herpesviruses in multiple sclerosis: a population based case-control study from western Norway
Myhr et al.
J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 1998;64:539-542.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Ocular Cicatricial Pemphigoid: A Case Report of Monozygotic Twins Discordant for the Disease
Bhol et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 1995;113:202-207.
ABSTRACT