Serum antibodies against human brain myelin proteins in Gambian trypanosomiasis.

Human brain myelin was obtained by flotation centrifugation on 0.88 M sucrose. The myelin proteins were extracted with 0.1% SDS-0.01 M Tris, pH 7.4 from the myelin floating on 0.88 M sucrose following centrifugation. Using ELISA and immunoblotting, we have shown that antibodies against the myelin proteins exist in sera collected from Gambian trypanosomiasis patients. The antibodies were more prevalent in patients with CNS involvement since of 21 sera from patients with more than 4 cells/ml cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), 15 (71.4%) had antimyelin antibodies, as compared to 3 of 13 (23.1%) from patients with less than 4 cells/ml CSF. Thus, of 18 sera that had antimyelin antibodies, 15 (83.3%) were from patients with CNS involvement. Using the immunofluorescence test, selected sera detected antigens in cryocuts of human brain.