Antibodies to peripheral nerve myelin may occur without clinical neuropathy in healthy persons

M Vrethem; T Skogh; G Berlin; H Holmgren; J Ernerudh

doi:10.1016/0165-5728(91)90191-9

Antibodies to peripheral nerve myelin may occur without clinical neuropathy in healthy persons

J Neuroimmunol. 1991 Jun;32(3):219-22. doi: 10.1016/0165-5728(91)90191-9.

Authors

M Vrethem¹, T Skogh, G Berlin, H Holmgren, J Ernerudh

Affiliation

¹ Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Linköping, Sweden.

PMID: 1851766
DOI: 10.1016/0165-5728(91)90191-9

Abstract

To study the role of autoantibodies against peripheral nerve myelin (PNM), sera from 255 healthy blood donors were investigated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and persons with anti-PNM antibodies were further studied clinically and by neurography, 25 blood donors (10%) had anti-PNM antibodies of IgM, IgG or IgA isotype. The 12 blood donors with anti-PNM antibodies of IgM isotype showed only slightly decreased nerve conduction velocities compared to 12 blood donors without anti-PNM antibodies. Two blood donors with anti-PNM antibodies of IgM and IgG isotype respectively showed a clinical, previously undiagnosed polyneuropathy (PN), verified by neurography. However, also one blood donor without anti-PNM antibodies had a clinical and neurography-verified PN. We conclude that antibodies against PNM may occur in healthy persons without evidence of a clinical or subclinical PN.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Autoantibodies / analysis*
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Myelin Sheath / immunology*
Peripheral Nerves / immunology*
Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / immunology*

Substances

Autoantibodies