Lysolecithin fusion of cells from multiple sclerosis patients with Vero cells

Monolayer destruction by leukocytes from patients with multiple sclerosis

Separated lymphoid cells from patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS) were co-cultivated with various cell lines. Over 80% of such co-cultivations showed destruction of the tissue-culture monolayers, whereas less than 5% of "normal" blood co-cultivation behaved in the same manner. Because of the possible involvement of virus in the aetiology of MS, many positive co-cultivations were 1) examined electron-microscopically, but no virus particles were seen; and 2) tested for measles and herpes viruses using immunofluorescent techniques, but these also proved negative. Leukocytes from stroke patients showed monolayer destruction in about 50% of cases. Granulocyte contamination was high in the stroke blood samples. Reduction of granulocyte numbers to "normal" levels completely abrogated the effect in the stroke samples, but had no effect on the MS co-cultivations. Monolayer destruction by MS leukocytes also appeared not to be due to lymphotoxin.

Oligoclonal IgG and measles antibody in CSF of multiple sclerosis patients

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was obtained from 50 neurological patients, 26 of whom suffered from multiple sclerosis (MS). Agar gel electrophoresis and determination of anti-measles antibody titre were performed on the CSF samples. The frequency of elevated measles antibody titre was higher among the MS patients than among the patients with other neurological diseases. Furthermore, oligoclonal IgG in CSF occurred more often among the MS patients than among the other neurological patients. An association between high measles antibody titre and the presence of oligoclonal IgG was observed in CSF from both the MS patients and the patients with other neurological diseases. However, the nature of the correlation between occurrence of oligoclonal IgG and high measles antibody titre remains to be explained.