Clinical characteristics of adult optic neuritis patients with positive serum myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody or aquaporin 4 antibody

Abstract

Objective To analyze the clinical features and prognosis of adult optic neuritis patients with positive serum myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody (MOG-ON) or aquaporin 4 antibody (AQP4- ON). Methods A retrospective study. From December 2015 to February 2018, in the Beijing Chaoyang Hospital of Capital Medical University and Chinese PLA General Hospital, 162 eyes of 132 patients with positive serum MOG antibody and AQP4 were included in the study. There were 42 MOG-ON patients (49 eyes, 31.8%), 90 AQP4-ON patients (113 eyes, 68.2%). The clinical features of optic neuritis (annual recurrence frequency, incidence of optic disc edema), brain and optic nerve enhanced MRI, serum autoimmune antibodies and cerebrospinal fluid test results were compared between MOG-ON and AQP4-ON patients. All patients were treated with intravenous methylprednisolone sodium succinate in the acute phase and then switched to oral prednisone acetate tablets. The average follow-up time was 15 months. The glucocorticoid dependence, visual prognosis, spinal cord symptoms, and myelitis at the last follow-up were comparatively analyzed between MOG-ON and AQP4-ON patients. The comparison of the count data was performed by χ2 test, and the measurement data were compared by t test. Results Compared with AQP4-ON patients, MOG-ON patients had higher annual recurrence frequency (t=3.760, P=0.005), higher incidence of optic disc edema (χ2=14.777, P<0.001), higher incidence of hormone dependence (χ2=25.496, P<0.001), and better visual prognosis (χ2=28.759, P<0.001). MOG-ON patients were more likely to involve the optic nerve, AQP4-ON patients were more likely to involve the optic chiasm and the optic tract. There was a significant difference in the location of lesions between MOG-ON and AQP4-ON patients (χ2= 5.447, P= 0.015). The proportion of AQP4-ON patients with autoimmune antibodies was significantly higher than that of MOG-ON patients (χ2 = 20.453, P<0.001). The results of cerebrospinal fluid test showed that the white blood cell count of patients with MOG-ON and AQP4- ON were within the normal range, but the IgG level of AQP4-ON patients was significantly higher than that of MOG-ON patients (t=8.669, P<0.001). At the last follow-up, there were 7 and 29 patients of myelitis in MOG-ON and AQP4-ON patients respectively (χ2=3.494, P=0.046). Conclusions The clinical characteristics of MOG-ON were different from AQP4-ON. The incidence of optic disc edema and recurrence rate were higher, but the proportion of autoimmune antibodies was lower. MOG-ON was more likely to show hormone dependence, but the visual prognosis was better. AQP4-ON was easily involved in optic chiasm and optic tract, and the incidence of myelitis was higher. Key words: Optic neuritis; Oligodendroglia; Aquaporin 4; Disease attributes; Prognosis