Elevated mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) antibody titer in Japanese multiple sclerosis

Highlights

• Immunity against mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) was assessed.

• IgG against MAP2694 (MAP2694-IgG) was elevated in patients with multiple sclerosis.

• Higher MAP2694-IgG titers correlated with worse disability.

• MAP2694-IgG was not associated with HLA-DRB1 alleles or dairy product consumption.

Abstract

To investigate whether antibody production against mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is related to clinical characteristics of multiple sclerosis (MS) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles, IgG antibody against three MAP peptides and two human peptides homologous to MAP were measured in sera from 103 MS patients and 50 healthy controls (HCs). MS patients had higher IgG levels against MAP2694_295–303 (MAP2694-IgG) than HCs, while the other antibodies were comparable. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that higher MAP2694-IgG titers were associated with higher EDSS scores, but not with HLA alleles or dairy product consumption. Immune response against MAP may worsen MS disability.