A newly developed test may be the key to predicting MS even before symptoms are apparent, say doctors in a new research paper.1
Predicting MS Early On
The test effectively detects antibodies to a myelin protein in the body, say investigators at the University of California at San Francisco, who published results of a study involving both people and animals in the early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The research team developed the test that specifically targets antibodies to myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, or MOG, which is active in myelin. Myelin is a fatty-like substance that covers and protects nerve fibers in the central nervous system. When MS strikes, it is myelin that is damaged by certain cells of the immune system. When this happens, the nerve fibers are unable to effectively transmit nerve impulses between one another, which manifests itself as the disease’s symptoms.2
MOG antibodies have been difficult to characterize in people, explained Patrice Lalive of UCSF. That’s because current tests don’t take into account the form that the protein takes when it is active in the myelin cell membrane.
Antibodies Detected
The test accurately identified antibodies to MOG in patients with relapsing MS, but only in small amounts in those with secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis. Blood samples from patients with primary progressive MS did not contain antibodies to MOG.
In marmosets with inflammatory demyelination, a condition similar to MS, the researchers found that the test identified the disease long before full blown symptoms appeared. The findings show that the antibodies detected by the test represent the earliest stages of the immune response against myelin, and could be a useful marker to predict the development of the disease when symptoms aren’t present.
Thus, this test could be used to either “diagnose MS or MS risk,” Lalive and her colleagues wrote.
1. Lalive PH, Menge T, Delarasse C et al. Antibodies to native myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein are serologic markers of early inflammation in multiple sclerosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2006 Feb 3;[Epub ahead of print].
2. National Multiple Sclerosis Society. What is Multiple Sclerosis? Available at: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/What%20is%20MS.asp.
John Martin is a long-time health journalist and an editor for CuraScript. His credits include overseeing health news coverage for the website of Fox Television's The Health Network, and articles for the New York Post and other consumer and trade publications.
