[Myelin basic protein in cerebrospinal fluid in neurosyphilis (author's transl)]

Myelin basic protein (MBP) was demonstrated in the CSF of 15 out of 41 patients with assumed or ascertained neurosyphilis using a radio-immunoassay. In parenchymatous syphilis (progressive paralysis, tabes dorsalis) more than 50% of patients had MBP-positive CSF independent of immunological findings and previous treatment. CSF of patients with meningovascular neurosyphilis was mostly negative, only in 2 cases with acute symptoms was MBP demonstrable. In one of these patients MBP was no longer demonstrable in the CSF 6 months after treatment. The frequent occurrence of MBP in CSF in parenchymatous neurosyphilis can be taken as evidence of persistence of demyelinising activity even in cases where immunological finding point to "syphilis satis curata" (sufficiently treated syphilis).