Relationship between measles virus-specific antibody activities and oligoclonal IgG in the central nervous system of patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis and multiple sclerosis.

The association between oligoclonal IgG and measles virus antibodies present in cerebrospinal fluid samples or extracts of brain materials from 9 patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis was studied after electrophoretic separation. In all samples there was a good correlation between presence of bands of IgG and occurrence of specific antibody activities. The dominating band of oligoclonal IgG appeared in all cases to represent antibodies against the nucleocapsid antigen. Bands of oligoclonal IgG with a certain antibody activity displayed a tendency to occupy a preferential position in the electropherogram. Antibodies against the hemolysin and the nucleocapsids had a relatively more cathodic position than antibodies against the hemagglutinin. A clear correlation between bands of oligoclonal IgG and measles virus-specific antibody activity was not found in tests with materials from 4 patients with multiple sclerosis and 1 patient with myelopathy of unknown cause. However, a heterogeneous distribution of different antibody activities in separated material suggested that some electrophoretically restricted IgG proteins might carry these activities.