Brain volume in early MS patients with and without IgG oligoclonal bands in CSF

Background Oligoclonal bands of IgG (OB) are proposed as an early prognostic factor of the disease. Growing attention is directed towards brain volume evaluation as a possible marker of the severity of MS. Previous studies found that MS patients lacking OB have less brain atrophy. Aim to evaluate a possible relationship between OB and cerebral volume in a cohort of early MS patients. Methods Inclusion criteria were: diagnosis of relapsing-remitting MS; CSF analysis and MRI acquired simultaneously and within 12 months from clinical onset. A total of 15 healthy controls underwent MRI. Results In 20 MS patients, CSF analysis did not show OB synthesis (OB negative group). A control group of 25 MS patients in whom OB was detected was also randomly recruited (OB positive group). T test showed a significant difference in NWV between the OB positive and OB negative groups (P value = 0.01), and between the OB positive group and the healthy controls (P value = 0.001). No differences were detected between OB negative group and healthy controls. Multivariable linear regression showed a relationship between NWV and OB synthesis (P value = 0.02) controlling for age, gender, and EDSS. Conclusions Our preliminary results suggest that OB positive patients show more atrophy of white matter since early phases of the disease, supporting the role of CSF analysis as a prognostic factor in MS.