Clinical characteristics of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein seropositive optic neuritis: a cohort study in Shanghai, China

Qualitative and quantitative visual outcomes of Asian optic neuritis (ON) patients with seropositive myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibodies remain unknown. We retrospectively evaluated a cohort of new-onset ON patients in Shanghai, China between January 2015 and December 2016. Serum MOG and aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibodies were detected using cell-based assays, and patients were followed-up for at least 6 months. The clinical characteristics and optical coherence tomography (OCT) results were evaluated in the MOG-seropositive optic neuritis (MOG-ON), AQP4-seropositive (AQP4-ON), and double seronegative (Seronegative-ON) patients. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness after 6 months of follow-up were compared. Among MOG-ON (n = 49, 64 eyes), AQP4-ON (n = 76, 102 eyes), and Seronegative-ON patients (n = 100, 116 eyes), the percentages of BCVAs better than 0.8 (20/25) at the 6-month visit were 67.19, 19.60, and 72.41%, respectively, which showed no statistical difference between MOG-ON and Seronegative-ON patients (p = 0.198), but were better than the AQP4-ON patients (P = 0.001). The average peripapillary RNFLs measured 6 months after the attack were 58.03 ± 8.73, 64.34 ± 12.88, and 78.12 ± 13.34 μm for the MOG-ON, AQP4-ON, and Seronegative-ON patients, respectively. There was no statistical difference between MOG-ON and AQP4-ON patients (P = 0.089), but both were thinner than Seronegative-ON patients (P = 0.001). The visual acuity in MOG-ON patients was as good as Seronegative-ON patients, whereas the RNFL of the optic nerve head showed a significant thinning as in the AQP4-ON patients.