Serological reactions against glycolipid-sensitised liposomes in multiple sclerosis

Abstract

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (MS) is a neurological disease of unknown aetiology which involves the destruction of central nervous system myelin¹. Although recent results have implicated a possible viral agent^2,3, the search continues to identify an antigen which might provoke a postulated autoimmune reaction⁴. Such a role has been suggested not only for proteins, but recently also for myelin glycolipids, particularly galactocerebroside^5,6. However, to demonstrate immunological reactions against lipid antigens presents special problems: solubility, accessibility of reactive groups, the anticomplementarity of many lipids and the requirement for auxiliary lipids, lecithin and cholesterol⁷. We have used a model membrane system which obviates these difficulties to survey sera from MS patients for reactivity against crude extracts of white matter lipids as well as various glycolipids. This test demonstrated antibodies reacting against cerebrosides, gangliosides and white matter lipids in some of the MS sera tested, but reactions against digalactosyl diglyceride (an α-galactoside) were more frequent, and were found more often in MS patients than in normal controls, or those with other neurological diseases.