Central nervous system-specific antinuclear antibodies in patients with multiple sclerosis

Abstract Background Nuclear antigen released from central nervous system (CNS) cells undergoing destruction may induce production of antinuclear antibodies (ANA). We characterized the CNS-specific production of ANA in multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods We assessed CNS-ANA binding to mouse cerebellar cell nuclei by immunofluorescence assay (IFA) with sera from 104 MS patients (91 relapsing-remitting; 13 secondary progressive), 30 patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD), and 30 healthy controls (HCs). Conventional ANA (cANA) was detected by IFA using human epithelial type-2 cells. CNS-ANA-positive cANA-negative patients were termed CNS-specific ANA-positive. Western blotting (WB) was performed using mouse cerebellar nuclear fractions. Results CNS-specific ANA were more frequent in MS than in NMOSD patients or HCs (13.5% vs 0% for both comparisons, both p  Conclusions The CNS-specific ANA was more frequently detected in MS patients than NMOSD patients or HCs. 55 kDa band-reactive CNS-specific ANA may reflect clinical disease progression in MS.