Frequency of autoimmune disorders and autoantibodies in European patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders

Excerpt

Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) are autoimmune inflammatory disorders of the central nervous system and are known to be associated with other systemic and organ-specific autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematodes, myasthenia gravis and Sjögren syndrome [1, 2]. Approximately 80% of the patients have pathogenic serum autoantibodies against aquaporin-4 (AQP4-IgG), whereas a subset of AQP4-IgG seronegative patients expresses autoantibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG-IgG), also called MOG-IgG seropositive encephalomyelitis [2]. Various studies in Asian, American and Afro-Brazilian NMOSD cohorts describe a high prevalence of autoantibodies associated with other autoimmune diseases [3‐5]. Against this background, the aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of autoimmune comorbidities and autoantibodies in European AQP4-IgG and MOG-IgG seropositive cohorts. …