Document Type : Research articles

Authors

• Samiie Pouragahi ^{1, 2, 3}
• Marjan Nassiri-Asl ⁴
• Mohammad Ali Sahraian ²
• Mehdi Sadeghi ⁵
• Abdolali Banki ⁶
• Mitra Ataei ⁷
• Mohammad Hossein Sanati ³

¹ Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran

² Multiple Sclerosis Research Center, Sina Hospital, Department of Neurology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

³ Department of Molecular Genetics, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB), Tehran, Iran

⁴ Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran

⁵ Department of Bioinformatics, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB), Tehran, Iran

⁶ Department of Neurology, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Baqiyatallah Hospital, Tehran, Iran

⁷ National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB), Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background: Myelin basic protein (MBP), a crucial neuro-autoantigen involved in the maintenance of the myelin sheath, is one of the biomarkers of therapeutic response in multiple sclerosis (MS).
Objectives: The study examines prognostic biomarker and molecular mimicry hypothesis MS etiology by MBP.
Methods: This study is convergence of three arms including in silico and in vitro (bioinformatics) with the in vivo (experimental). A novel methodology combining molecular techniques was used to confirm the antigenic properties of MBP and study its efficiency in increasing the susceptibility to MS. One hundred eighty MS patients and healthy subjects were recruited for the study from Jan 2013 to Feb 2016 in Iran. Age and sex-matched healthy volunteers and patients were analyzed using various quantitative and qualitative molecular laboratory techniques. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and plasma was used for the retrieval of MBP and IgG assay, respectively.
Results: The optimum concentration of the MBP epitope for the immune system to react and facilitate prognostication was found to be 50 and 150 µg/mL in MS patients and healthy individuals, respectively (P < 0.0001****). Combined results from ELISA and realtime PCR showed that the total IgG and the ratio of gene expression for candidate human MBP epitope was higher in MS patients in all the three groups compared to that in healthy controls P < 0.0001****).
Conclusions: Molecular assays in the early stages of the disease could help in elucidating the effectiveness of the MBP as a prognostic factor in MS.

Keywords

• Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
• Myelin Basic Protein (MBP)
• Real Time PCR
• ELISA
• Molecular Mimicry