Serological Studies of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis, controls, and Patients with Other Neurological Diseases: Antibodies to HTLV-I, HTLV-II, HIV, and STLV-III

Retroviruses have been associated with neurological disease in man. Recently, Kaprowski et al. [1] reported that outbreaks of mutliple sclerosis (MS) in Key West, Florida, and in Sweden seem to be associated with increased antibody for human retroviruses. In addition, homology studies under nonstringent conditions using CSF cells derived from MS patients reacted with human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV)-I antigen. During the past 10 years more than ten different possible agents have been suggested as causes of MS [2]. These agents include a number of recognized viruses such as measles, canine distemper, scrapie agent, coronaviruses, and agents of unclear classification such as the MSAA (multiple sclerosis associated agent), bone marrow agent, and chimpanzee agent. We report here our studies of retrovirus antibody in a large number of sera and CSF collected from MS patients, matched controls, and patients with other neurological diseases (OND) prior to AIDS becoming a serious disease.