A novel antineuronal antibody in serum and CSF of a patient with motor neuron disease

A patient with motor neuron disease and tonic pupil who had an antinuclear antibody (Ab) in the serum and oligoclonal pattern in IgG in the CSF is described. Sera and CSF from this patient and controls (37 sera and 30 CSF) were screened for an antineuronal Ab using immunoblotting. Only the serum and CSF from this patient contained an Ab to a 70-kD protein in the human spinal cord but not in the human muscle or cerebellar cortex. This patient's serum immunohistochemically stained human and Japanese monkey anterior horn cells but not Japanese monkey dorsal root ganglion.