Cerebrospinal Tau levels as a predictor of early disability in multiple sclerosis.

INTRODUCTION: Axonal loss is an important feature of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), being strongly related to irreversible disability accumulation. Nonetheless, the exact mechanisms underlying axonal loss remain unclear. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of Tau and Beta-amyloid (Abeta) currently represent diagnostic biomarkers in other neurodegenerative diseases. In MS, studies on CSF Tau and Abeta provided preliminary informations on disease prognosis, but results have not yet been replicated. METHODS: We investigated whether CSF Tau and Abeta levels could predict early disability accumulation in MS patients. 100 patients underwent CSF analysis during their diagnostic work-up. Demographic, clinical, radiological features and CSF were collected at baseline. MS severity score (MSSS) and age-related MSSS (ARMSS) were calculated at last follow-up. We performed Mann-Whitney test, Spearman's coefficient, and multiple regression analysis for significant predictors of disability based on CSF Abeta and Tau levels, gender, age at diagnosis and MRI characteristics at baseline. RESULTS: Baseline CSF Tau levels moderately correlated with MSSS (r=0.372 p=0.0001) and weakly with ARMSS (r=0.237 p=0.0176) after a mean two years follow-up. Predictors of early disability evaluated with MSSS and ARMSS were CSF Tau (Beta:0.258 p=0.009 and Beta:0.252 p=0.01) and spinal cord involvement (Beta:0.196 p=0.029 and Beta:0.240 p=0.008); as well as age at MS diagnosis (Beta:0.286 p=0.001) for MSSS, and high brain lesion load (Beta:0.207 p=0.02) for ARMSS. CONCLUSION: CSF Tau levels at diagnosis possibly has a predictive value along with MRI features and age at diagnosis. We hypothesize that Tau levels may express chronic axonal damage, possibly contributing to early MS disability.

K Index is a Reliable Marker of Intrathecal Synthesis, and an Alternative to IgG Index in Multiple Sclerosis Diagnostic Work-Up.

The K free light chain (K) index has been suggested as a reliable marker of intrathecal synthesis,despite the 2017 McDonald criteria for multiple sclerosis (MS) suggesting to "interpret with caution positiveimmunoglobulin G (IgG) index when testing for oligoclonal bands (OB) is negative or not performed". Theaim of this study was to compare the performance of K and IgG indexes for MS diagnosis and OB detectionin a cohort of Italian patients. We enrolled 385 patients (127 MS, 258 non-MS) who had cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) analysis, including isoelectric focusing (IEF), to detect OB in the diagnostic work-up. Albumin, IgGand free light chains were measured by nephelometry and used to calculate IgG and K indexes. Althoughthe two markers were highly related (r = 0.75, r2 = 0.55, p < 0.0001), the K index showed greater sensitivity andnegative predictive value (versus the IgG index) for OB detection (97% versus 48% and 97% versus 71%) andMS diagnosis (96% versus 50% and 98% versus 78%). These results support K index (and not IgG index) as afirst-line marker for MS, followed by IEF, according to a sequential testing approach in CSF analysis.

Detection of auto-antibodies against cytochrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1) in chronic hepatitis C.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is often associated with auto-immune reactions. In the light of the role of alcohol in promoting CHC progression, we have investigated the possible presence of auto-reactivity against the ethanol-inducible cytochrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1) in CHC patients with and without alcohol consumption. METHODS: The IgG reactivity against recombinant human CYP2E1 was evaluated by solid-phase immunoassays in 102 CHC patients with different alcohol consumption and 59 HCV-free controls. RESULTS: Auto-antibodies against CYP2E1 were significantly (p<0.0001) increased in CHC patients as compared to controls. Anti-CYP2E1 IgG above the 97th percentile in the controls were evident in 41 (40%) CHC patients. Competition experiments revealed that CYP2E1 recognition was not due to the cross-reactivity with CYP2D6. The detection of anti-CYP2E1 IgG was unrelated to alcohol consumption and no difference in gender, age, aminotransferase levels and virus genotype was evident among the patients with or without anti-CYP2E1 auto-antibodies. However, anti-CYP2E1 auto-reactivity was significantly (p=0.025) associated with the severity of periportal/periseptal interface hepatitis. Moreover, confocal microscopy demonstrated that anti-CYP2E1 IgG associated with CHC recognized CYP2E1 exposed on the outer side of hepatocyte plasma membranes. CONCLUSIONS: HCV infection favours the breaking of self-tolerance against CYP2E1 that might contribute to hepatocyte injury.