The role of hereditary spastic paraplegia related genes in multiple sclerosis. A study of disease susceptibility and clinical outcome

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common inflammatory disease of the central nervous system unsurpassed for its variability in disease outcome. It has been observed that axonal loss in MS is significant and that irreversible clinical disability relates to such axonal loss. The clinical similarities between Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP) and progressive MS, along with their analogous profiles of axonal loss in the long tracts, make the genes known to cause HSP biologically relevant candidates for the study of clinical outcome in MS. A cohort of sporadic MS cases and a set of unaffected controls were used to determine the role of HSP genes on MS susceptibility and disease severity. The MS cases were taken from opposite extremes of the putative distribution of long-term outcome using the most stringent clinical criteria to date. Genotyping the two sets of MS patients and controls could not provide any evidence to suggest that genes involved in the pathogenesis of HSP (Paraplegin, NIPA1, KIF5A, HSPD1, Atlastin, Spartin, Spastin, PLP1, L1CAM, Maspardin and BSCL2) play a role in susceptibility to, or modifying the course of, MS, although small effects of these genes cannot be ruled out.

No effect of APOE and PVRL2 on the clinical outcome of multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common inflammatory disease of the central nervous system unsurpassed for its variability in disease outcome. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is involved in neuronal remodelling and several studies have attempted to examine the effect of APOE on MS disease severity, but its function in modifying the course of MS is controversial. It has been suggested recently that PVRL2, not APOE, is the locus on chromosome 19 which influences clinical outcome of MS. A cohort of sporadic MS cases, taken from opposite extremes of the putative distribution of long-term outcome using the most stringent clinical criteria to date, was used to determine the role of APOE and PVRL2 on MS disease severity. The MS cases selected represent the prognostic best 5% (benign MS) and worst 5% (malignant MS) of cases in terms of clinical outcome assessed by the EDSS. Genotyping the two sets of MS patients (112 benign and 51 malignant) and a replication cohort from Sardinia provided no evidence to suggest that APOE or PVRL2 have any outcome modifying activity. We conclude that APOE and PVRL2 have little or no effect on the clinical outcome of MS.

Evaluation of different tubing geometries for high-speed counter-current chromatography

Different tubing geometries were evaluated for use in high-speed counter-current chromatography. Standard round tubing was compared to rectangular and twisted rectangular tubing. The number of theoretical plates for a standard anthocyanin mixture from black currant was determined for each experiment. The results of twisted rectangular tubing were superior to a standard setup.

Centrifugal precipitation chromatography -- a novel chromatographic system for fractionation of polymeric pigments from black tea and red wine

A novel chromatographic system was developed and first applied to the fractionation of polymeric pigments from black tea and red wine. Centrifugal precipitation chromatography (CPC) generates solvent gradients through a long separation channel under a centrifugal force field. Tea and wine extracts are precipitated in a hexane- or methyl tert-butyl ether-rich environment and are exposed to a gradually increasing ethanol concentration. This causes a repetitive precipitation and dissolution of the biopolymers along the channel. Consequently, they are eluted in the order of their solubility in the organic solvent. It is shown by HPLC analysis of the separated fractions that monomers elute first, whereas fractionated polymers can be found at the end of the chromatographic run. This novel method allows gentle fractionation of polymeric tea and wine constituents and also has potential for use in preparative-scale separations.

Preparative isolation of anthocyanins by high-speed countercurrent chromatography and application of the color activity concept to red wine

Red pigments were isolated from wine and grape-skin extracts using preparative high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) and identified by NMR and MS techniques. Four solvent systems were developed in order to separate anthocyanins with different polarities. Malvidin-3-glucoside was the major component present in young red wines, and up to 500 mg of pure malvidin-3-glucoside could be obtained from a single bottle of a red wine. Other isolated pigments were the malvidin- and peonidin-3,5-diglucosides, as well as acetyl-, coumaroyl-, and caffeoyl-derivatives of anthocyanins. Furthermore, condensed red wine pigments formed from malvidin-3-glucoside (vitisin A and acetylvitisin A) were isolated on a preparative scale. Isolated compounds were used as standards for quantification of anthocyanins in a range of red wines. The "color activity concept" was applied to red wine, and visual detection thresholds were determined for some of the isolated anthocyanins. Mono-glucosides were found to exhibit lower visual detection thresholds than di-glucosides and acylated anthocyanins.

Isolation of black tea pigments using high-speed countercurrent chromatography and studies on properties of black tea polymers

Isolation of theaflavins and epitheaflavic acids from black tea using high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) on a preparative scale is demonstrated. HSCCC also enabled the isolation of a polymeric fraction from black tea. According to Roberts' classification, the polymeric fraction mainly consisted of SII thearubigins (TR). HPLC analysis showed that the isolated material is free of any known chromatographically resolved tea constituents and eluted from reversed-phase packings as a convex "hump" (a broad signal). The antioxidant activity of the TR fraction was 3.6 mmol of Trolox equivalents per gram. The total phenolic content of this fraction was determined to be 34.7 g/100 g (as gallic acid equivalents).

Preparative separation of polyphenols from tea by high-speed countercurrent chromatography

High-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) was applied to the separation of polyphenols from tea leaves (Camellia sinensis L.). The capability of HSCCC to isolate pure tea polyphenols from complex mixtures on a preparative scale was demonstrated for catechins, flavonol glycosides, proanthocyanidins, and strictinin from green and black tea. The purity and identity of isolated compounds was confirmed by (1)H NMR and HPLC-ESI-MS/MS. Gram quantities of polyphenols from tea can be isolated with the procedure described.

Separation and purification of anthocyanins by high-speed countercurrent chromatography and screening for antioxidant activity

The all-liquid chromatographic technique of high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) has been applied for separations of anthocyanins. The biphasic mixture of tert-butyl methyl ether/n-butanol/acetonitrile/water (2:2:1:5) acidified with trifluoroacetic acid was found to be a suitable solvent system for anthocyanin separation. In some cases, enrichment of the pigments on Amberlite XAD-7 resin prior to HSCCC has been carried out. The anthocyanin mixtures from red cabbage, black currant, black chokeberry, and roselle were successfully fractionated using HSCCC. Peak purity control was done by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as well as electrospray ionization ion trap multiple mass spectrometry. Finally, antioxidant activity of the purified pigments was determined using the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity test.

Absence of antibodies to non-NMDA glutamate-receptor subunits in paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether patients with antineuronal antibody-associated paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) harbor antibodies to non-N-methyl-D-aspartate glutamate receptors (GluRs) in their serum.

BACKGROUND

A recent study identified antibodies to GluRs in the serum of patients with PCD.

METHODS

Sera of 35 patients with PCD (20 anti-Yo, 5 anti-Ri, 5 anti-Tr, and 5 anti-Hu) were examined by immunohistochemistry and immunoblot techniques. The expression of GluRs was obtained after transfection of 293T cells with cDNA plasmids corresponding to GluR1, GluR2, GluR3, GluR4, GluR6, and GluR7. The tumors of four patients with anti-Yo-associated PCD and nine ovarian carcinomas from patients without PCD were examined for the expression of GluRs.

RESULTS

The expression of each GluR subunit was confirmed using affinity-purified antibodies against the corresponding GluRs and with whole sera from two rabbits immunized with GluR3. Thirty-two sera from patients with PCD were negative and 3 showed equivocal reactivity with 293T cells expressing different GluRs. None of the 35 sera had a pattern of reactivity characteristic of any GluR antibody on immunohistochemistry of sections of rat brain. Eleven of 14 tumors did not express GluRs; only some cells of one paraneoplastic tumor expressed GluRs.

CONCLUSIONS

That patients with antibody-associated PCD (anti-Yo, -Ri, -Tr, and -Hu) harbor GluR antibodies in their sera is unlikely. GluR antibodies cannot be used as markers of paraneoplastic neurologic disorders.

Selection of recombinant anti-HuD Fab fragments from a phage display antibody library of a lung cancer patient with paraneoplastic encephalomyelitis

Antibodies against the HuD antigen expressed in small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) cross-react with proteins expressed in neurons of the central and peripheral nervous system and are associated with paraneoplastic encephalomyelitis and sensory neuropathy (PEM/SN). We isolated anti-HuD Fab fragments from an antibody phage display library that was constructed from mRNA of a metastatic lymph node from a patient with SCLC and Pem/SN. Fab GLN495 recognized HuD and other related proteins (HuC and Hel-N1, or Hu antigens) in immunoblots of these recombinant proteins and in immunohistochemical and Western blot analysis of SCLC and neurons. Fab GLN495 inhibited up to 75% of the anti-Hu antibodies of the patient from which it was derived, suggesting that recognizes a dominant epitope in the polyclonal anti-Hu antibody response. Fab GLN495 also competed with anti-Hu sera from most but not all patients with PEM/SN, indicating that the same epitope is recognized by a large subgroup of patients. Human monoclonal anti-HuD antibodies may be useful in diagnosis of HuD expressing tumors and in clarifying the autoimmune etiology of PEM/SN. This study, the first to demonstrate that tumor specific recombinant antibodies can be isolated from metastatic lymph node tissue, shows that this approach may be generally applicable to isolate human antibodies against tumor specific antigens.

[Allergic contact dermatitis caused by etofenamate]

We report on 3 cases of contact dermatitis following topical application of etofenamat. Each patient developed positive reactions in patch tests with etofenamat in concentrations of both 10% and 1%. After testing, one patient showed secondary inflammatory reactions at the original site of application. Considering the frequent administration of etofenamat, contact sensitization seems to be relatively rare.