Cerebrospinal fluid cytokine levels in type 1 narcolepsy patients very close to onset

TY - JOUR

T1 - Cerebrospinal fluid cytokine levels in type 1 narcolepsy patients very close to onset

AU - Kornum, Birgitte Rahbek

AU - Pizza, Fabio

AU - Knudsen, Stine

AU - Plazzi, Giuseppe

AU - Jennum, Poul

AU - Mignot, Emmanuel

N1 - Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PY - 2015/10/1

Y1 - 2015/10/1

N2 - Type 1 narcolepsy is caused by a loss of hypocretin (orexin) signaling in the brain. Genetic data suggests the disorder is caused by an autoimmune attack on hypocretin producing neurons in hypothalamus. This hypothesis has however not yet been confirmed by consistent findings of autoreactive antibodies or T-cells in patient samples. One explanation for these negative results may be that the autoimmune process is no longer active when patients present to the clinic. With increasing awareness in recent years, more and more patients have been diagnosed closer and closer to disease onset. In this study, we tested whether an active immune process in the brain could be detected in these patients, as reflected by increased cytokine levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Using multiplex analysis, we measured the levels of 51 cytokines and chemokines in the CSF of 40 type 1 narcolepsy patients having varying disease duration. For comparison, we used samples from 9 healthy controls and 9 patients with other central hypersomnia. Cytokine levels did not differ significantly between controls and patients, even in 5 patients with disease onset less than a month prior to CSF sampling.

AB - Type 1 narcolepsy is caused by a loss of hypocretin (orexin) signaling in the brain. Genetic data suggests the disorder is caused by an autoimmune attack on hypocretin producing neurons in hypothalamus. This hypothesis has however not yet been confirmed by consistent findings of autoreactive antibodies or T-cells in patient samples. One explanation for these negative results may be that the autoimmune process is no longer active when patients present to the clinic. With increasing awareness in recent years, more and more patients have been diagnosed closer and closer to disease onset. In this study, we tested whether an active immune process in the brain could be detected in these patients, as reflected by increased cytokine levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Using multiplex analysis, we measured the levels of 51 cytokines and chemokines in the CSF of 40 type 1 narcolepsy patients having varying disease duration. For comparison, we used samples from 9 healthy controls and 9 patients with other central hypersomnia. Cytokine levels did not differ significantly between controls and patients, even in 5 patients with disease onset less than a month prior to CSF sampling.

KW - Adolescent

KW - Adult

KW - Biomarkers

KW - Brain

KW - Child

KW - Cytokines

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Narcolepsy

KW - T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer

KW - Young Adult

U2 - 10.1016/j.bbi.2015.03.004

DO - 10.1016/j.bbi.2015.03.004

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 25771509

SN - 0889-1591

VL - 49

SP - 54

EP - 58

JO - Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

JF - Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

ER -