Sensitization to myelin basic protein in attacks of multiple sclerosis. A preliminary report.

Recent attempts to detect the presence of antibody to encephalitogenic basic protein in multiple sclerosis have generally been unsuccessful. The utilization of a new system of double immunodiffusion in detecting such antibody in EAE serum prompted us to apply this method in the search of such antibody MS sera. In our preliminary investigation of 67 sera, antibody was detectable in MS sera, but it was most often found during convalescence rather than an acute exacerbation of illness. Antibody was also found in several myasthenic patients, and occasionally in subjects with other neurological disease.