Antibodies against sulfated glycosphingolipids of peripheral nerve myelins detected in patients with human cytomegalovirus infection.

In this paper we studied whether cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection could induce a production of antibodies against PNS glycosphingolipids (GL). Sera from patients with congenital CMV infection were tested for IgM and IgG antibodies against acidic and neutral GL purified from human PNS. TLC-immunostaining assay revealed that the CMV-infected patients' sera contained antibodies against sulfoglucuronyl glycosphingolipids (SGGL), which also bound to other sulfatide with a low affinity. No reactivity was observed to PNS gangliosides or neutral GL. The antibody also bound to other sulfated glycolipids including seminolipid and LacCer-sulfate, but not to cholesterol-sulfate, suggesting that a sulfated sugar chain may be important for their low-affinity binding. Furthermore, both anti-sulfatide and anti-SGGL antibodies were absorbed with sulfatide-conjugated octyl-Sepharose and heparin-Sepharose columns, whereas CMV-specific IgG titer was not decreased by the absorption of anti-sulfated GL antibody. These results suggest that CMV infection might specifically induce production of antibodies against sulfated GL, whereas these antibodies differed from CMV-specific antibody.