eng URI http://hdl.handle.net/10795/3656 ιατρικές επιστήμες ασθένεια του νευρικού συστήματος κυτταρολογία Autoantibodies against the water channel AQP4, expressed predominately in central nervous system astrocytes, are markers and pathogenic factors in Devic's disease. In this study we examined whether Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients recognize antigenic epitopes on AQP4 that may define distinct disease subsets. We screened sera from 45 patients with relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) and 13 patients with primary progressive MS (PMS). 23 Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) patients previously characterized were used as assay positive/negative controls. Sera from 23 patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, 23 with primary Sjogren syndrome without neurological involvement and from 28 healthy individuals were also used as controls. NMO-positive sera exhibited reactivity against the intracellular epitope AQPaa252-275, confirming previous observations. All RRMS sera tested negative for anti-AQP4 antibodies using a cell-based assay, but surprisingly, 13% of them reacted with the epitope AQPaa252-275. PMS, healthy and disease controls showed no specific reactivity. Whether these antibodies define distinct MS subsets and have a pathogenic potential pointing to convergent pathogenetic mechanism with NMO, or are simply markers of astrocytic damage, remains to be determined. 4 pp. LOMv1.0 creator LOMv1.0 publisher LOMv1.0 Scientific Coordinator LOMv1.0 Project Executing Organisation 2013-04-17 Digital Library of the Operational Programme "Education and Lifelong Learning" abstract types Text Central nervous system Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Autoimmune diseases Antibodies Optic neuritis Multiple sclerosis Epitope mapping Aquaporin-4 Astrocytes Demyelination Κεντρικό νευρικό σύστημα Συστηματικός ερυθηματώδης λύκος Επιπολασμός Αντισώματα Οπτική νευρομυελίτιδα 468477 application/pdf http://repository.edulll.gr/edulll/bitstream/10795/3656/2/3656_1.106_%ce%94%ce%97%ce%9c_17_4_13.pdf URI http://hdl.handle.net/10795/3656 LOMv1.0creator 2016-06-16T07:27:00Z LOMv1.0validator 2016-06-16T07:27:00Z LOMv1.0 gre no no Copyright EYD-EPEDBM (Operational Programme "Education and Lifelong Learning")