Anti-HIV antibodies in the CSF of AIDS patients: a serological and immunoblotting study.

CSF and serum samples from 16 AIDS patients were tested for the presence of anti-HIV antibodies either by classical serological methods or by an immunoblot technique based on agarose gel isoelectric focusing and transfer of the specific IgG antibodies onto HIV antigens-loaded nitrocellulose sheets. This method enabled the demonstration of an intrathecal synthesis of anti-HIV oligoclonal IgG antibodies, often superimposed on diffuse polyclonal production, in 14 patients. The two negative cases were devoid of neurological signs or symptoms.

[Antibody activity of CSF oligoclonal IgG in infectious neurological diseases. Detection using immunoblotting].

The authors describe various applications of an immunoblot technique which allows the qualitative determination of the specific antibody activity of oligoclonal IgG intrathecally synthesized in infectious diseases of the nervous system. After dilution of sera to the same IgG concentration as the paired CSF samples, 10 microliters of both fluids are applied side by side on agarose gel plates and isoelectrically focused. Precipitated IgG or specific IgG antibodies are then blotted onto a nitrocellulose sheet previously coated with either a rabbit anti-IgG antiserum or the antigen under study, respectively.

Elevated levels of the 26K human hybridoma growth factor (interleukin 6) in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with acute infection of the central nervous system.

We reported recently that a human protein, previously described as IL-1 inducible 26K factor (26K) or interferon-beta 2, was a potent growth factor for B cell hybridomas in vitro. Subsequently, it appeared that this protein was also identical with the lymphokine B cell stimulatory factor 2. Here we report that the levels of 26K are considerably increased during the early stages of acute infections of the central nervous system.

[Borrelia burgdorferi encephalomyelitis].

We report two patients with chronic encephalomyelitis due to Borrelia burgdorferi in whom the definite diagnosis was delayed because of atypical clinical features. The first patient presented with chronic spastic paraparesis, slight ataxia and nystagmus of several years' duration. A tentative diagnosis of multiple sclerosis was made in spite of important abnormalities of the CSF biological characteristics.