J Korean Med Sci.  2013 Dec;28(12):1801-1806. 10.3346/jkms.2013.28.12.1801.

Antibodies to Interferon beta in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis Receiving CinnoVex, Rebif, and Betaferon

• Zare N
• Zarkesh-Esfahani SH
• Gharagozloo M
• Shaygannejad V

• KMID: 1779423
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2013.28.12.1801

Abstract

Treatment with interferon beta (IFN-beta) induces the production of binding antibodies (BAbs) and neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). NAbs against IFN-beta are associated with a loss of IFN-beta bioactivity and decreased clinical efficacy of the drug. The objective of this study was to evaluate the incidence and the prevalence of binding antibodies (BAbs) and neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) to IFN-beta in MS patients receiving CinnoVex, Rebif, or Betaferon. The presence of BAbs was studied in serum samples from 124 MS patients using one of these IFN-beta medications by ELISA. The NAbs against IFN-beta were measured in BAb-positive MS patients receiving IFN-beta using an MxA gene expression assay (real-time RT-PCR). Of the 124 patients, 36 (29.03%) had BAbs after at least 12 months of IFN-beta treatment. The proportion of BAb+ was 38.1% for Betaferon, 21.9% for Rebif, and 26.8% for CinnoVex. Five BAb-positive MS patients were lost to follow-up; thus 31 BAb-positive MS patients were studied for NAbs. NAbs were present in 25 (80.6%) of BAb-positive MS patients receiving IFN-beta. In conclusion, the three IFN-beta preparations have different degrees of immunogenicity.

Keyword

Binding Antibodies; Bioactivity; Interferon-beta; Multiple Sclerosis; Myxovirus Resistance Rrotein A (MxA); Antibodies, Neutralizing

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Adult
Antibodies/*blood/immunology
Antibodies, Neutralizing/*blood/immunology
Cross Reactions
DNA, Complementary/metabolism
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Female
Humans
Interferon-beta/*immunology/therapeutic use
Male
Middle Aged
Multiple Sclerosis/drug therapy/*immunology
Myxovirus Resistance Proteins/genetics
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
Young Adult
Antibodies
Antibodies, Neutralizing
DNA, Complementary
Interferon-beta
Myxovirus Resistance Proteins

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 The mean optical density (OD) in the three groups. The mean absorbance values are 1.19, 1.03, and 0.98 for Betaferon, CinnoVex, and Rebif, respectively. Betaferon has shown the highest mean OD values for BAbs. The mean OD value in CinnoVex was between the Betaferon and Rebif groups. Error bars indicate (+/-2) standard error.

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