Methods to ID MS antibodies are developed

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Sep 20, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Yale School of Medicine researchers in New Haven, Conn., have identified three rapid diagnostic methods for antibodies in multiple sclerosis patients.

Although anti-myelin antibodies are often found in MS patients, the diagnostic value of the molecules that respond to infection are limited because they are also found in patients without MS, making it difficult to determine their role in the development of the disease. In addition, MS patients might generate anti-myelin antibody responses that reflect, rather than cause, the disease.

To address that diagnostic challenge, Nancy Ruddle, a Yale professor of epidemiology and public health and immunobiology and colleagues developed mouse models to find ways to distinguish between antibodies that cause MS from those that are present in MS patients, but do not cause disease symptoms.

The team developed two ways to induce MS symptoms in mice. Although both procedures yield antibodies to myelin, only one made antibodies that could cause disease in other mice.

"Our results bring us one step closer to pinpointing more accurate diagnostic tools to aid in designing treatments for individual MS patients," said Ruddle.

The team reports its findings in this week's Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.