Cerebrospinal fluid antibodies to tubulin are elevated in the patients with multiple sclerosis

The aim of this study was to compare the levels of anti-tubulin antibodies (anti-TU) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum using bovine tubulin as the antigen in one enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method (anti-TUb antibodies) and a synthetic neuron-specific octapeptide of tubulin in a second ELISA method (anti-TUs antibodies).

Paired CSF and serum samples were obtained from 34 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, 13 patients with various other neurological diseases (control diseases) and 17 normal control patients (CN).

CSF levels of anti-TUs and anti-TUb antibodies were significantly lower in the CN group when compared to those in the MS group. On the contrary, serum levels of anti-TU antibodies did not differ among groups. The intrathecal synthesis of anti-TUs antibodies in comparison with anti-TUb was significantly increased in all groups. Significant correlations between anti-TUb and anti-TUs antibodies were observed in the CSF of all three groups. However, with regard to serum, a similar relationship was only found in the MS group.

The estimation of anti-TU in CSF can contribute to the overall assessment of axonal damage; on the contrary serum anti-tubulin antibodies were not useful for differential purposes in MS. The antibodies to the neuron-specific portion of tubulin seemed to be synthesised predominantly intrathecally.