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Updated: Dec 29, 2025
Author Spotlight: Novel Assay for Studying B-Cell Responses in Multiple Sclerosis Research
Published on: December 1, 2023
Xenogeneic Neu5Gc and self-glycan Neu5Ac epitopes are potential immune targets in MS
Kayluz F Boligan1, Johanna Oechtering1, Christian W Keller1
1From the Institute of Pharmacology (K.F.B., S.v.G.), University of Bern, Switzerland; Neurologic Clinic and Policlinic (J.O., L.K., J.K.), Departments of Medicine, Clinical Research, Biomedicine and Biomedical Engineering, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Switzerland; Department of Neurology with Institute of Translational Neurology (C.W.K., J.D.L.), University Hospital Münster, University of Münster, Germany; Laboratory of Neuroinflammation (C.W.K., B.P., J.D.L.), Institute of Experimental Immunology, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR) (R.R.), University of Bern, Switzerland; Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry Russian Academy of Science (N.B.), Moscow, Russia; Auckland University of Technology (N.B.), New Zealand; and Department of Surgery (R.D.C.), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Objective:
To explore the repertoire of glycan-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies in treatment-naive patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).
Methods:
A systems-level approach combined with glycan array technologies was used to determine specificities and binding reactivities of glycan-specific IgGs in treatment-naive patients with RRMS compared with patients with noninflammatory and other inflammatory neurologic diseases.
Results:
We identified a unique signature of glycan-binding IgG in MS with high reactivities to the dietary xenoglycan N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) and the self-glycan N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac). Increased reactivities of serum IgG toward Neu5Gc and Neu5Ac were additionally observed in an independent, treatment-naive cohort of patients with RRMS.
Conclusion:
Patients with MS show increased IgG reactivities to structurally related xenogeneic and human neuraminic acids. The discovery of these glycan-specific epitopes as immune targets and potential biomarkers in MS merits further investigation.
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