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Arch Neurol 2008;65:913–9.
Editor’s note: The importance of antibodies to aquaporin-4 (AQP4) in neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis is increasingly recognized. In 2004, Lennon et al. used indirect immunofluorescence to describe NMO immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies on adult mouse cerebellum sections, showing a characteristic pattern of binding around microvessels, pia, and Virchow-Robin spaces (
Lancet 2004;364:2106–2112). The test was 58–73% sensitive and 91–100% specific for NMO. In 2005, the same group identified AQP4 as the target antigen by demonstrating binding of NMO IgG-positive serum samples to the surface of human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells transfected with AQP4 (
J Exp Med 2005;202:473–7).