Cellular immunity to encephalitogenic protein in multiple sclerosis. Correlations with other laboratory characteristics at different disease courses.

A very suggestive, although non-significant, correlation was found between cellular immunity to encephalitogenic protein in multiple sclerosis and the genetic marker HLA-B7 in patients with no disease activity during at least the past 5 years and in those with a chronic progressive disease course during recent years, but not in patients studied longitudinally after a relapse. Only the latter group showed a significant correlation with parameters indicating intrathecal synthesis of immunoglobulin. No correlation was demonstrable with a parameter indicating intrathecal synthesis of measles antibodies.