The influence of HLA-DRB1* 15 on motor cortical neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis (P3. 381)

Objective: To assess the influence of HLA-DRB1*15 on motor cortical neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis (MS).Background: Animal models of CNS inflammation have shown that microglia influence cortical neuronal outcome via inhibitory synaptic stripping, conferring on these neurons protection from inflammatory insult. We sought to investigate whether putative neuroprotective strategies involving inhibitory neurotransmission might be operative in the MS cortex, and the influence therein of the primary genetic risk factor for the disease, HLA-DRB1*15.Design/Methods: Post-mortem MS cases (n=47) and controls (n=10) were used. Adjacent sections of motor cortex were stained for neurons (NeuN), microglia/macrophages (Iba1) and activated microglia/macrophages (CD68). A subset of MS cases (n=20) and controls (n=7) were double-labelled for neurofilament and glutamic acid decarboxylase 65/67 (GAD) to …