Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of serum and cerebrospinal fluid proteins in multiple sclerosis and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

Serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteins in multiple sclerosis (MS) and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) were fractionated by means of two dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. At the same time, separations of serum and CSF proteins of control cases were made. Some major differences were observed between the patterns obtained for MS serum and those obtained for normal and SSPE serum: for MS serum one extra specific group of proteins was located in the more acidic area of the gel. In the case of CSF protein separations, MS and SSPE showed common features remarkably different from normal: the disappearance of a specific CSF 38,000 dalton group of proteins and the fractionation of proteins into many discrete spots in the chi and lambda light chain region after two dimensional electrophoresis. The latter correlates with the presence of oligoclonal immunoglobulins in the CSF. In addition, in SSPE CSF, there appear 4 to 5 proteins which cannot be detected elsewhere (nor in normal CSF nor in CSF from various neurological diseases). Identification of these proteins has not yet been made.