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Characterization of anti-natalizumab antibodies in multiple sclerosis patients
M Lundkvist1, E Engdahl, C Holmén
1Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Background:
A small proportion of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients treated with natalizumab develop anti-drug antibodies.
Objective:
The objective of this paper is to characterize the anti-natalizumab antibody response and to investigate differences between persistently and transiently antibody-positive patients.
Methods:
Screening for anti-natalizumab antibodies was performed using a standardized bridging ELISA. Antibody-positive samples were further analyzed for IgM and IgG1-4 antibodies using ELISA and ImmunoCAP®.
Results:
Anti-natalizumab antibodies developed in 57 of 1379 (4.1%) treated patients after a median treatment duration of three months. Of the positive patients, 20 (35%) patients reverted to negative, 19 (33%) patients were confirmed persistently positive and 18 (32%) patients were unconfirmed positive. Significantly higher anti-natalizumab antibody levels were detected in persistently compared to transiently positive patients. A cutoff value predicting persistence of antibodies could be determined with a sensitivity of 0.84 and a specificity of 0.80. IgM and IgG4 antibody levels were significantly higher in persistently compared to transiently positive patients, and IgG1, IgG2 and IgG4 increased significantly over time.
Conclusions:
The level of total anti-natalizumab antibodies in a first positive sample can be used to predict patients at risk for persisting antibody positivity. However, neither IgM nor IgG1-4 antibodies could be used to discriminate between transiently and persistently positive patients.
