Diagnostic relevance of anti HNK-1 antibodies

The antigenic region of MAG is a specific carbohydrate epitope which is called human natural killer-1 (HNK-1). The HNK-1 epitope is shared with several glycoproteins and glycolipids of the peripheral nerve myelin sheath (MAG, P0, PMP22, SGPG and SGLPG and Phosphocan). In the classic gold standard anti-MAG autoantibody ELISA, highly purified entire MAG is coated onto the wells. In BÜHLMANN GanglioCombi^® MAG ELISA a synthetic HNK-1 carbohydrate moiety is coated.

At the Symposium of Autoantibodies diagnostic relevance of anti-HNK-1 antibodies has been presented for the first time. This work has also been published recently in the Journal of Neurology (Delmont E et al., Journal of Neurology, 2019 Aug; 266(8): 1973-1979).