The Intrathecal Humoral Immune Response: Laboratory Analysis and Clinical Relevance
-
Christian J.M. Sindic
Abstract
In normal conditions, albumin and immunoglobulin (Ig)G in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) originate from the blood, and there is no antibody production within the central nervous system. Up to 20% of CSF proteins are intrathecally synthesized, but the major fraction is blood-derived. The CSF/serum albumin quotient (QAlb) is the best marker of the blood-CSF barrier function. The corresponding immunoglobulin quotients (QIGG, QIGA, QIGM ) are not linearly related to QAlb and their correlations are defined by an hyperbolic equation. This equation is used to discriminate between a blood-derived and a locally produced fraction of immunoglobulins in case of an intrathecal humoral immune response. The detection of CSF-specific oligoclonal IgG is more sensitive than the quantitative comparison between QIGG and QAlb. A further step is the determination of antibody indices and the detection of specific oligoclonal antibodies by antigen-driven immunoblots. CSF analysis remains a cornerstone for the diagnosis of various neurological disorders, including multiple sclerosis and infectious diseases of the central nervous system.
Copyright © 2001 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
Articles in the same Issue
- IFCC/ Beckman Coulter Inc. Conference Frontiers in Molecular Basis of Diseases: Cell Biology of Neuronal Dysfunction, Paris, October 12-13, 2000
- Distribution of Cellular Prion Protein in Normal Human Cerebral Cortex – Does It Have Relevance to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease?
- Caspase-3 Apoptotic Signaling Following Injury to the Central Nervous System
- Parkinsons Disease and other α-Synucleinopathies
- Aggregation-Dependent Interaction of the Alzheimers β-Amyloid and Microglia
- β-Amyloid-Induced Cytotoxicity, Peroxide Generation and Blockade of Glutamate Uptake in Cultured Astrocytes
- Protein S-100B: A Serum Marker for Ischemic and Infectious Injury of Cerebral Tissue
- Reporting Cerebrospinal Fluid Data: Knowledge Base and Interpretation Software
- The Intrathecal Humoral Immune Response: Laboratory Analysis and Clinical Relevance
- Source of Endothelin-1 in Subarachnoid Hemorraghe
- Polymorphism of Apoprotein E (APOE), Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR) and Paraoxonase (PON1) Genes in Patients with Cerebrovascular Disease
- Neurotrophic Factor Therapy – Prospects and Problems
- Cell Therapy and Transplantation in Parkinsons Disease
- Matrix Metalloproteinases: Potential Therapeutic Target in Spinal Cord Injury
Articles in the same Issue
- IFCC/ Beckman Coulter Inc. Conference Frontiers in Molecular Basis of Diseases: Cell Biology of Neuronal Dysfunction, Paris, October 12-13, 2000
- Distribution of Cellular Prion Protein in Normal Human Cerebral Cortex – Does It Have Relevance to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease?
- Caspase-3 Apoptotic Signaling Following Injury to the Central Nervous System
- Parkinsons Disease and other α-Synucleinopathies
- Aggregation-Dependent Interaction of the Alzheimers β-Amyloid and Microglia
- β-Amyloid-Induced Cytotoxicity, Peroxide Generation and Blockade of Glutamate Uptake in Cultured Astrocytes
- Protein S-100B: A Serum Marker for Ischemic and Infectious Injury of Cerebral Tissue
- Reporting Cerebrospinal Fluid Data: Knowledge Base and Interpretation Software
- The Intrathecal Humoral Immune Response: Laboratory Analysis and Clinical Relevance
- Source of Endothelin-1 in Subarachnoid Hemorraghe
- Polymorphism of Apoprotein E (APOE), Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR) and Paraoxonase (PON1) Genes in Patients with Cerebrovascular Disease
- Neurotrophic Factor Therapy – Prospects and Problems
- Cell Therapy and Transplantation in Parkinsons Disease
- Matrix Metalloproteinases: Potential Therapeutic Target in Spinal Cord Injury
