Anti-satellite glia cell IgG antibodies in fibromyalgia patients are related to symptom severity and to metabolite concentrations in thalamus and rostral anterior cingulate cortex

Brain Behav Immun. 2023 Sep 6:S0889-1591(23)00267-2. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2023.09.003. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTRecent translational work has shown that fibromyalgia (FM) might be an autoimmune condition with pathogenic mechanisms mediated by a peripheral, pain-inducing action of IgG antibodies binding to satellite glia cells (SGC) in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG). A first clinical assessment of the postulated autoimmunity showed that fibromyalgia subjects (FMS) had elevated levels of antibodies against SGC (termed anti-SGC IgG) compared to healthy controls and that anti-SGC IgG were associated with a more severe disease status. The overarching aim of the current study was to determine whether the role of anti-SGC IgG in driving pain is exclusively through peripheral mechanisms, as indirectly shown so far, or could be attributed also to central mechanisms. To this end, we wanted to first confirm, in a larger cohort of FMS, the relation between anti-SGC IgG and pain-related clinical measures. Secondly, we explored the associations of these autoantibodies with brain metabolite concentrations (assessed via magnetic resonance spectroscopy, MRS) and pressure-evoked cerebral pain processing (assessed via functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI) in FMS. Proton MRS was performed in the thalamus and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) of FMS and concentrations of a wide spectrum of metabolites were assessed. During fMRI, FMS received individually calibrated painful pressur...
Source: Brain, Behavior, and Immunity - Category: Neurology Authors: Source Type: research