[Inducers of autoimmune reactions in patients with trigeminal neuralgia]

The antigenic determinants of proteins contained in normal nervous tissue and some microorganisms were studied by the method of immunoblotting. Nervous tissue was found to contain antigens, common with some Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens having molecular weights (MW) of 104, 90, 68, 40, 34, 28 kD and some antigens contained in staphylococcal and streptococcal proteins with MW of 274, 163, 63, 50 kD. In serum samples taken from trigeminal neuralgia patients autoantibodies to cross-reacting determinants of microbial and nerve proteins with MW of 84, 76, 66, 64, 44, 40, 38, 28 kD were detected. These autoantibodies were absent in the sera of healthy persons. The conclusion was made that the autoantibodies under study might play a certain role in the pathogenesis of pangs in such patients.