Intrathecal synthesis of antibodies to staphylococcal antigens in multiple sclerosis patients.

Human serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) antibodies against three staphylococcal antigens were measured using the ELISA technique. Antibody levels in sera from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) were lower than those found in sera from patients with other neurological diseases (OND) and from healthy individuals (N). The CSF antibody mean titres for patients with relapsing remittent MS were about twofold higher than those found for the other groups. Both serum and CSF antibodies were of the IgG class while IgM could only be detected in serum samples. Elevated IgG-indexes, indicating intrathecal immunoglobulin synthesis, were found only among individuals in the MS patient groups. Some of the patients also had elevated indexes of specific antibodies to the staphylococcal antigens used, i.e. lipoteichoic acid (LTA), peptidoglycan (PG) and beta-ribitol teichoic acid (beta-RTA). This indicates that some MS patients have synthesized staphylococcal antibodies intrathecally.