A shared antigenic determinant between natural killer cells and nervous tissue

Considerable evidence for shared antigenic determinants between nervous elements and lymphocytes has accumulated. It has also been suggested that this cross-recognition may be involved in the pathogenesis of human neurological diseases such as myasthenia gravis and multiple sclerosis. We report here evidence that a marker for natural killer (NK) cells, anti-Leu-7 (HNK-1), specifically binds to components of human and rodent central nervous tissue as well as peripheral nervous tissue, especially to myelin sheaths. In contrast, another NK-cell marker (VEP13) did not react with nervous tissue. Since NK-cell function is impaired in a population of multiple sclerosis patients, the observed cross-reactivity indicates that autosensitization against myelin may simultaneously cause a defect of NK-cell function. Furthermore, the shared antigenic determinant may help to identify a hitherto undefined nervous tissue antigen and simultaneously increase the knowledge about the nature of NK-cell antigens.