Serum and cerebrospinal fluid antibodies against measles virus in patients with multiple sclerosis

: Measles c.f.a. and h.i.e. were titrated in sera and, when possible, in the cerebrospinal fluids of 183 SM patients and in sera from a control group of subjects. No significative difference was found by the h.i. test, whereas significantly higher was the frequence of positives by the c.f. test in the SM group, with no correlation with the therapy to which the patients were subjected. The presence of c.f.a. in 13 of 48 cerebrospinal fluids tested, together with a low value of the serum/CSF antibodies ratio and with the lack of CSF antibodies against other viral antigens tested (HSV, rubeola), could indicate an intra CNS production of measles antibodies. To sum up, our results suggest an involvement of measles virus at least in some of the MS patients considered.