Assessment of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibodies and magnetic resonance spectroscopy in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus.

OBJECTIVES

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterised by the presence of various autoantibodies. Mild cognitive impairment developing in patients without significant neuropsychiatric (NP) symptoms was thought to be the result of immune-mediated myelinopathy. We aimed to determine the role of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody (MOG-Ab) in the neurological manifestations of childhood-onset SLE (cSLE) and if there is a correlation between various metabolite peaks in magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and myelinopathy.

METHODS

MOG-Ab levels were studied in all healthy subjects (n=28) and in all patients with (NPSLE=9) and without (non-NPSLE=36) overt neuropsychiatric manifestations. Twenty patients (all had a normal-appearing brain on plain magnetic resonance) in non-NPSLE and 20 subjects in healthy group met the MRS imaging standards for evaluation in which normal appearing brain on plain MR.

RESULTS

A total of 45 cSLE (36 non-NPSLE and 9 NPSLE) subjects and 28 healthy children were recruited to the study. The mean age of the SLE patients at study time was 16.22±3.22 years. MOG-Ab was not detected in cSLE or in healthy group. There was no significant difference between the non-NPSLE group and healthy subjects in terms of choline, N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), creatine, NAA/creatine, and choline/creatine.

CONCLUSIONS

There was no association of MOG-Ab with cSLE, whether NP manifestations were present or not. A causal relationship between immune-mediated myelinopathy and cognitive impairment could not be suggested, since there has been no patient with positive MOG-Ab and there has been no difference in choline, choline/creatine between groups.