Isoelectric point restriction of cerebrospinal fluid and serum IgG antibodies to measles virus polypeptides in multiple sclerosis

Thirty consecutive isoelectric point (pI)-discrete IgG fractions were isolated from multiple sclerosis (MS) cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and used to immune precipitate measles virus (MV) polypeptides. Most basic fractions were enriched in activity against nucleocapsid protein (NP), and to a lesser extent against hemagglutinin (H) protein; intermediate fractions were enriched in activity against H and fusion (F) proteins; and more anodic pI fractions were almost exclusively enriched in activity against the large (L) protein of MV. In MS there are marked differences between CSF and autologous serum in regard to antibody activity to MV. In contrast, there were similar profiles of antibody response to MV proteins in SSPE CSF and serum.