Dynamics of levels of neuroautoantibodies in the blood of patientswith severe traumatic brain injury
Background. As you know, severe traumatic brain injury is accompanied by the development of hypoxia with the subsequent death of nerve cells. The autoimmune reactions of the cellular and humoral type play an important role in the pathological process. The purpose of the work was to study the content of autoantibodies to brain antigens in the blood of patients with severe traumatic brain injury. Materials and methods. 40 patients with isolated severe traumatic brain injury were examined in the postoperative period. The control group consisted of 20 healthy volunteers. The content of autoantibodies to brain antigens (myelin basic protein (MBP), S-100 protein, neurospecific enolase (NSE) and heterophile brain antigen) was determined by the method of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay оn days 1, 3, 5, 7, 14 after operative intervention. Results. It was found that the level of autoantibodies to the MBP on day 1, as well as throughout the study, did not significantly differ from that of healthy volunteers. The concentration of autoantibodies to protein S-100 on day 1 was not significantly different from that of healthy volunteers, but on day 3 it increased, the difference between patients and healthy volunteers was statistically significant. On day 5, there was a decrease in the indicators with a significant difference. On days 7 and 14, the levels of autoantibodies in patients gradually decreased (p > 0.05). The level of autoantibodies to the neuronspecific enolase on day 1 did not exceed the values of healthy volunteers (p > 0.05). On day 3, the level increased reaching the peak on day 5, when the difference in comparison with healthy volunteers was statistically significant. In future, there was a decrease in the indicators with the preservation of statistical reliability. The levels of autoantibodies to the heterophile brain antigen on day 1 were elevated, but did not significantly differ from those of healthy volunteers. Subsequently, the figures increased reaching a peak on day 5, when they statistically varied from healthy volunteers. Afterwards, there was a decrease in the indicators on days 7 and 14, with a statistically significant difference remaining. Conclusions. The results of our study showed that severe traumatic brain injury causes elevated levels of specific autoantibodies to brain antigens in the blood serum of patients. A high level of autoantibodies to neurospecific enolase, protein S-100, heterophile brain antigen, and a low level to the myelin basic protein have been recorded. This allows us to conclude that neurons and astroglia are prone primarily to changes and damage, since an autoimmune process is activated to their antigens.