The detection of autoantibody-forming cells: II. Cells in lymph nodes and central nervous system containing antibody to myelin basic protein

Haemolysis in gel was used to demonstrate the release of antibody to the basic protein of myelin from frozen sections of lymph nodes and central nervous system (CNS) of guinea pigs with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). The antibody, which lysed sheep red blood cells coated with basic protein, appeared to be released from thawed lymphoid cells in the tissues, rather than to have diffused from serum, since no haemolytic foci were found in control sections from other vascular tissue, namely spleen. The haemolysis was due to the release of specific anti-basic protein antibody, since lysis was inhibited by free basic protein, and sheep red blood cells coated with an antigen unrelated to basic protein were not lysed. Anti-basic protein antibody produced locally by cells in the CNS may be an important determinant in the pathogenesis of EAE. The application of this technique of haemolysis in gel to frozen sections of brain from patients with multiple sclerosis should indicate whether the large amount of γ-globulin found, and presumably produced locally, in the CNS in multiple sclerosis has any antibody specificity for the basic protein of myejin.