[S-16] Insights into the disease concept and the boarder of NMOSD and MS

[S-16-2] From the viewpoint of pathological study in MS

Izumi Kawachi (Dept. of Neurology, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University, Japan)

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) was originally proposed by Devic. The concept of NMO spectrum disorder (NMOSD) had been proposed after the discovery of anti-aquaporin 4(AQP4) antibody, shedding light on the anti-AQP4 antibody positive cases without optic neuritis or myelitis, or seronegative opticospinal cases, which is distinct from classical multiple sclerosis (MS). However, it is now revealed that there are similar cases with bilateral optic neuritis, transverse myelitis or acute disseminated encephalomyelitis associated only with anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody, which in these groups some patients had similar features to MS clinically or pathologically. While considering the historical concept of NMO, we are now in front of the spreading of disease concept in NMOSD. We will discuss how these diseases should be grouped and treated from the viewpoints of clinical and pathological studies.

Izumi Kawachi, M.D., Ph.D. is presently a Lecturer in Department of Neurology, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University. She is a councilor of the Japanese Society for Neuroimmunology, the Japanese Society for Neuropathology, the Japanese Society of Neurology and the Japanese Society of Neurological Therapeutics, as well as serving as a Member of the MS/NMOSD Guidelines Committee 2017. Dr. Kawachi graduated from Niigata University in 1993 (MD) and earned her PhD from Niigata University in 2002. Dr. Kawachi undertook training in neurology at Brain Research Institute, Niigata University and then engaged in research of innate immunology as a research associate in Prof. Marco Colonna’s lab, Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University, School of Medicine, St. Louis, USA. Her principal research activity has been in neuroimmunological diseases including multiple sclerosis, neuromyeltis optica and paraneoplastic syndrome.