Identification of coronin-1a as a novel antibody target for clinically isolated syndrome and multiple sclerosis

Recently, we identified the mimotope UH-CIS6 as a novel candidate antibody target for clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) and relapsing-remitting (RR) multiple sclerosis (MS). The purpose of this study was to further validate UH-CIS6 as an antibody target for CIS and MS and to identify the in vivo antibody target of UH-CIS6. First, a UH-CIS6 peptide ELISA was optimized. Next, we investigated the antibody response toward UH-CIS6 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients with CIS (n = 20), MS (n = 43) and other neurological diseases (n = 42). Immunoprecipitation of anti-UH-CIS6 antibodies on a normal human brain lysate was performed to identify the in vivo antibody target of UH-CIS6. The cellular expression of an in vivo candidate target was investigated by immunohistochemistry using MS brain tissue sections. Antibody reactivity toward UH-CIS6 was detected in a significantly increased proportion of CSF samples from CIS and RR-MS patients as compared with neurological controls (p = 0.046). We identified and confirmed coronin-1a as the in vivo antibody target for UH-CIS6. Furthermore, coronin-1a was expressed by T cells and macrophages in an active MS lesion. Together, these results demonstrate that coronin-1a is a novel antibody target for CIS and MS.