[Aspects of the value of humoral antibodies in encephalomyelitis of neuroallergic origin].

The importance of humoral antibodies formed in the course of neuroallergic diseases characterized by a cytergic type of reaction and especially in the course of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAEM) is discussed, special attention being given to the importance of pathogenetic, immunodynamic, diagnostic, and therapeutic factors. The circulating antibodies of EAEM induced by cellular and humoral immunoprocesses are assumed to produce either intensifying or mitigating effects. Among the most important functions are the influence of immune globulins on the blood/brain boundary lesion, the gliotoxic and myelinotoxic effects, and the detection of a blockade of the intraneural transmission. The therapeutical effect to be discussed in the light of the protective effects of humoral antibodies is a mere conception in view of incompletely understood mechanisms including those governing the chronology and dynamics of immunoprocesses associated with multiple sclerosis, especially since the antigen-specific induction of tolerance appears to be far more essential.