Systemic Autoimmune Features and Multiple Sclerosis

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Abstract
MULTIPLE sclerosis (MS), the most frequent demyelinating disease in adults, is thought to be an autoimmune disease. Symptoms and signs observed in MS reflect lesions present mainly in the white matter of the central nervous system (CNS). The diagnosis remains difficult, at least concerning presenting symptoms, because of their low specificity and the absence of specific paraclinical markers of the disease.1 Diagnosis criteria are usually based on dissemination of clinical signs in time and space, evoked potentials, findings of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), results of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination, and the exclusion of other diagnoses possibly explaining the clinical signs.2,3 However, no clinical or paraclinical investigation can distinguish with certainty MS from other autoimmune or inflammatory diseases predominantly affecting the CNS.4,5 These other disorders include sarcoidosis, vasculitides, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and Behçet and Lyme diseases.