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

[S-16-5] Insights into the concept and pathology of NMOSD and MS in association with AQP4 and MOG antibodies

Tatsuro Misu (Department of Neurology, Tohoku 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.

Dr. Tatsuro Misu is presently the Senior Lecturer in the Department of Multiple Sclerosis Therapeutics at Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan. After he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Hirosaki University in 1997, he pursued clinical and post-graduate training at the Department of Neurology in Tohoku University Hospital and obtained his PhD. Since 2005, he is an Assistant Professor at Tohoku University. His principal research activity has been in Neuroimmunology, especially in clinical and pathological analyses of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and multiple sclerosis (MS), and the management of these diseases. He has published about a hundred of papers in international journals. He got several presentation awards from Japanese Society of Neuroimmunology 2007, PACTRIMS 2008, and ECTRIMS 2013, etc. His keen interest is to clarify the pathomechanism and therapeutic stragegy in MS and NMO spectrum disorders.