CLA-I (SR-BI) Autoantibodies for the Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a T-cell mediated autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. Its early diagnosis is based on clinical signs whose underlying pathology can be established by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Early diagnosis of MS, without MRI verification, is frequently inaccurate because the clinical signs are not diagnostic. Hence, there is a clear need for a simple assay that general medical practitioners and neurologists can use for identifying suspected MS patients for MRI evaluation. We have shown that 83% of MS patients, but not healthy individuals, produce autoantibodies to CLA-I (SR-BI), but not to reciprocal receptors from the same family, such as CD36 or SR-A1. We think that a detection kit, either an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay or radioimmunoassay, for measuring the serum titer of these antibodies could be useful in the early diagnosis of MS, and will help select suspected MS patients for further assessment using MRI.