Purpose: Inflammatory stenoses of cerebral arteries cause stroke in patients with florid vasculitis. However, diagnosis is often difficult even with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and biopsy. The purpose of this study was to establish the value of contrast-enhanced MRI, proven to be sensitive to extradural arteritis, for the identification of intracranial vessel wall inflammation. Patients and Methods: Twenty-seven patients with a diagnosis of cerebral vasculitis affecting large brain vessels were retrieved from the files: 8 children (2–10 years, 7 female, 1 male) and 19 adults (16–76 years, 10 female, 9 male). Diagnosis was based on histological or serological proof of vasculitis or on clinical and imaging criteria. All MRI examinations included diffusion-weighted imaging, time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography (TOF-MRA) and contrast-enhanced scans. MRI scans were assessed for the presence of ischemic brain lesions, arterial stenoses, vessel wall thickening and contrast uptake. Results: Ischemic changes of the brain tissue were seen in 24/27 patients and restricted diffusion suggestive of recent ischemia in 17/27; 25/27 patients had uni- or multifocal stenoses of intracranial arteries on TOF-MRA and 5/6 had stenoses on DSA. Vessel wall thickening was identified in 25/27, wall enhancement in 23/27 patients. Conclusion: Wall thickening and intramural contrast uptake are frequent findings in patients with active cerebral vasculitis affecting large brain arteries. Further prospective studies are required to determine the specificity of this finding.

Antibodies against native glycosylated myelin-oligodendrocyte-glycoprotein (MOG) were measured by ELISA in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and controls. Anti-MOG IgM antibodies were elevated during the first demyelinating event. Higher MOG-specific IgG antibodies were found in patients during relapses and in secondary chronic progressive MS compared to patients in remission and healthy controls. Antibodies against native MOG may be a potential biomarker for MS.

Natural self-reactive antibodies in the peripheral blood may play a considerable role in the control of potentially toxic proteins that may otherwise accumulate in the aging brain. The significance of serum antibodies reactive against α-synuclein is not well known. We explored serum IgG levels to monomeric α-synuclein in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with a novel and validated highly sensitive ELISA assay. Antibody levels revealed stark differences in patients compared to healthy subjects and were dependent on diagnosis, disease duration and age. Anti-α-synuclein IgG levels were increased in both patient groups, but in early DLB to a much greater extent than in AD. Increased antibody levels were most evident in younger patients, while with advanced age relatively low levels were observed, similar to healthy individuals, exhibiting stable antibody levels independent of age. Our data show the presence of differentially altered IgG levels against α-synuclein in DLB and AD, which may relate to a disturbed α-synuclein homeostasis triggered by the disease process. These observations may foster the development of novel, possibly preclinical biomarkers and immunotherapeutic strategies that target α-synuclein in neurodegenerative disease.

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in rats is a highly valuable model of multiple sclerosis (MS) because it mimics major hallmarks of the human disease. EAE induced with myelin-oligodendrocyte-glycoprotein (MOG) in DA rats is relapsing/ remitting, and lesions in the central nervous system show inflammation, demyelination, and axonal and neuronal loss. Recently, bone marrow transplantation (BMT) was introduced as a novel strategy to treat MS, but its efficiency and the underlying mechanism are debatable. In MOG-induced EAE we found that BMT at the peak of EAE but not in the chronic phase leads to disease attenuation. In both settings, rats receiving bone marrow (BM) transplants were protected from subsequently induced relapses. These findings could be confirmed by histopathology in which rats receiving BM transplants did not have lesions compared with controls not receiving transplants. Importantly, the protective effect was achieved by allogeneic, syngeneic, and BM grafts from diseased rats. BMT resulted in increased numbers of CD4 ؉ CD25 bright regulatory T cells, increased IntroductionMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that is characterized by demyelinating plaques and axonal loss. 1 Although MS is highly prevalent in Northern Europe and the United States, 2 no cure is presently available and the clinical management of the disease is unsatisfactory. 1 The etiology of MS is unknown. However, it is generally believed that both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the development of its pathology. 3 The onset of MS is presumably characterized by autoreactive T cells crossing the blood brain barrier (BBB) and initiating an inflammatory response that results in an opening of the BBB. This allows influx of additional immune cells such as granulocytes, macrophages, natural killer (NK) cells, and B cells as well as antibodies and complement. 4 Subsequently, this process leads to myelin destruction, induction of oligodendrocyte death, axonal degeneration and, ultimately, to the functional deficits seen in MS patients. 5 Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a frequently used animal model for MS that can be induced in rodents and monkeys. 6 In particular, myelin-oligodendrocyte-glycoprotein (MOG)-induced EAE in DA rats mimics major hallmarks of the human disease. These include the relapsing/remitting type of disease course, the occurrence of demyelinated plaques in the brain and spinal cord, axonal loss, and the involvement of both antibodies and complement in the pathogenesis. [7][8][9][10][11] Autologous bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are presently discussed as novel options for the treatment of patients with MS with fast progressive disease courses that do not respond to conventional treatment. 12,13 Clinical trials were to some extent inconclusive because they arrived at divergent results. [14][15][16] Preclinical studies were performed in EAE that assessed...