Occurrence of oligoclonal gammaglobulin in the CSF of children with prolonged and chronic CNS-infections.

CSF-proteins of 1770 children and adolescents with different neurological diseases and of 75 controls were examined by zone electrophoresis in agarose gel electrophoresis and by immunofixation electrophoresis. The quantitative evaluation of the phoretograms by an analog computer revealed oligoclonal changes of the gamma-globulin profile in 53 patients with subacute or chronic CNS-infections and in 5 children with a medulloblastoma. Seventeen of 37 children with congenital infections had 1--5 oligoclonal gamma-fractions consisting of IgG. Five to seven oligoclonal IgG fractions were detected in each of 16 children with SSPE. All 6 adolescents with multiple sclerosis had 2--5 oligoclonal IgG fractions. One to five oligoclonal gamma-bands occurred transiently in the CSF of 4 children with prolonged meningoencephalitis caused by different viruses, in 3 children with a prolonged non-bacterial meningitis of probable viral origin, in 2 infants with prolonged bacterial meningitis after corticosteroid therapy, and in 1 child with prolonged bacterial meningitis during cytostatic therapy. Four to six oligoclonal gamma-subfractions were found at different times during progressive viral encephalitis that developed during maintenance therapy of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, and in 2 patients with chronic meningoencephalitis of unknown origin. Since oligoclonal gamma-globulin was detected almost invariably in the CSF of patients with prolonged or chronic neurologic infections, this finding implies persistence of antigens in the CNS and pathologic invasion of lymphocytes with selective proliferation of antigen-stimulated clones.