Humoral link of autoimmune reactions to neuron-specific enolase in post-radiation encephalopathy patients]

The purpose of this research was to study the humoral link of autoimmune response to the brain antigen i.e. neurospecific enolase (NSE) in liquidators of the Chernobyl accident aftereffects diagnosed as having "postradiation encephalopathy" (PREP). Determined in the PREP patients' serum were: NSE content, level of autoantibodies to NSE, concentration and size of the immune complexes (IC) as well as NSE content in the IC. The majority of PREP patients revealed high serum level of NSE and high level of autoantibodies to NSE. Concentration of small and middle-size IC was 2-3 times higher than normal. So the presence of circulating NSE and autoantibodies thereto in the liquidators' blood serum evidences of an organic lesion of the brain neurons, this causing the development of neurological syndromes. It is likely that at certain stages of the PREP pathogenesis there appear autoimmune responses to neuroantigens which prove the destructive effects of radiation on the CNS. Probably, in patients with PREP 2-3 degrees the autoimmune processes become chronic due to pathogenic action of free autoantibodies to NSE and of small NSE-anti-NSE complexes which are known to be the most pathogenic and capable of being fixed on complementary brain structures promoting their damage.