Characterization of the binding pattern of human aquaporin-4 autoantibodies in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders

Table 4 Clinical and demographic characteristics of NMOSD patients according to AQP4-IgG binding pattern at baseline

	Loop A-dependent pattern A (n = 37)	Loop A-independent pattern B (n = 10)	p value
Females^a	31 (84 %)	9 (90 %)	0.125
Age (years)^b	49.3 (43.6-55.1)	49.0 (36.1-62.0)	0.764
Age at onset (years)^b	41.1 (35.2-47.1)	42.8 (26.3-59.2)	0.722
Disease duration (years)^b	8.6 (6.4-10.9)	6.8 (0–13.9)	0.662
Acute relapse^a	8 (22 %)	6 (60 %)	0.550
EDSS^c	3 (0.5-8.5)	5 (2–7)	0.196
Relapses^c	3 (1–19)	3 (1–11)	0.109
Diagnosis^a
NMO	14 (38 %)	8 (80 %)	0.455
LETM	14 (38 %)	0 (0 %)
ON	9 (24 %)	2 (20 %)
Treatment^d
No treatment	4	2	0.367
Corticosteroids	5	1
Azathioprine	10	4
Rituximab	14	1
Other treatments	4	2

AQP4-M23, AQP4-M1 and extracellular loop A, C, and E mutations were expressed in HEK-293A cells and assayed to categorize pattern A and pattern B serum samples as indicated in Fig. 3. Other treatments = interferon-ß (1), cyclophosphamide (1), mitoxanthrone (1), intravenous immunoglobulins (2) and plasma exchange (1). The effect of demographic and clinical parameters on binding patterns was statistically analyzed using binary logistic regression analysis
^aNumber of cases (%)
^bMean (95 % confidence interval)
^cMedian (range)
^dNumber of cases

ISSN: 1742-2094