• Livnat Brill, Lotem Goldberg, Arnon Karni, Panayiota Petrou, Oded Abramsky, Haim Ovadia, Tamir Ben-Hur, Dimitrios Karussis, and Adi Vaknin-Dembinsky.
• Department of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroimmunology, and the Agnes-Ginges Center for Neurogenetics, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center Jerusalem, Israel.
• Mult. Scler. 2015 Apr 1; 21 (5): 572-9.

BackgroundScreening of putative autoimmune targets in multiple sclerosis (MS) revealed a proportion of patients carrying antibodies (Abs) against KIR4.1, a potassium channel that shares functional properties with AQP4. Both are localized at the perivascular astrocytic processes.AimsTo measure anti-KIR4.1 Abs in the serum of MS and neuromyelitis optica (NMO) patients, and to identify the clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients harboring anti-KIR4.1 Abs.MethodsWe measured anti-KIR4.1 Abs in serum, using the peptide KIR4.1 (83-120) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).ResultsSerum levels of anti-KIR4.1 Abs were significantly higher in MS and NMO patients than in healthy controls (HCs); with Abs detected in 21 of 80, 10 of 45, and 2 of 32 individuals, respectively (MS versus HC, p < 0.05). The level of anti-KIR4.1 Abs was significantly higher during MS relapse, versus remission (p = 0.04). The clinical characteristics of our study patients did not vary based on KIR4.1 positivity.ConclusionsAnti-KIR4.1 Abs were found in similar proportions of patients with MS and NMO, at a significantly higher level than observed in HCs; consequently, the presence of Abs does not discriminate between these demyelinating diseases. However, anti-KIR4.1 Ab levels differed in MS patients during relapse and remission; as such, they may represent a marker of disease exacerbation.© The Author(s), 2014.

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