Oligoclonal bands and periventricular lesions in multiple sclerosis will not increase blood-brain barrier permeability.

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the etiology and clinical significance of periventricular lesions (PVLs) and oligoclonal bands (OB) in multiple sclerosis (MS).

METHODS: We enrolled a total of 97 MS patients (67 OB-positive and 30 OB-negative) who were negative both for anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) autoantibody and anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody. In these patients, comprehensive data including clinical, laboratory, and MRI were collected to investigate the significance of OB and PVLs.

RESULTS: Within the MS patients, OB-positivity and the number of PVLs were associated each other. Both of OB-positivity and PVLs did not affect clinical severity or relapse rate, though the patients with ≥3 PVLs showed faster cerebral atrophy than those with <3 PVLs. The patients with OB or ≥3 PVLs showed lower values of quotient of albumin (QAlb), a biomarker of blood-brain barrier (BBB)-permeability and possibly reflects the ongoing disease activity, and lower protein levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The causal relationship between the decreased QAlb and OB or ≥3 PVLs was not determined.

CONCLUSIONS: OB and PVLs were associated each other, but they did not affect the clinical course or increased the BBB-permeability within MS patients.