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Etiopathogenetic Role and Its Possible Use as a Diagnostic Marker

Alan Ebringer, MD; Lucy Hughes, PhD; Taha Rashid, MBChB; Clyde Wilson, PhD

Arch Neurol. 2005;62:33-36.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of neurologic disability among young people. The etiology of MS is controversial, but immune responses are considered to somehow be involved. The diagnosis of MS depends on a combination of various clinical and laboratory features, but apart from some myelin-neuronal autoantibody profiles or oligoclonal bands in the cerebrospinal fluid no other serologic diagnostic test or marker has yet been discovered. However, the presence of antibodies to Acinetobacter species in MS patients opens the possibility of developing a composite laboratory diagnostic marker, the myelin-Acinetobacter-neurofilament index. Whether Acinetobacter is the triggering agent of MS remains to be determined, but the measurement of anti-Acinetobacter antibodies could be used as a marker of disease activity. To evaluate this, prospective randomized controlled studies should be performed with MS patients, especially in the early stages of the disease.

Author Affiliations: Division of Life Sciences, Infection and Immunity Group, Waterloo Campus, King’s College, London, England.

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