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Devics Syndrome: Close to a cure

Devic’s syndrome was first described in 1870 by Sir Thomas Allbutt (what a name to have had as a kid!) who pointed out an association between myelitis and optic nerve disorder.? In 1894, Eugene Devic and his student Fernand Gault described 16 patients who had lost vision in one or both eyes and developed spastic weakness, sensory loss, and incontinence.? The other name of the condition was neuromyelitis optica (NMO).

A major breakthrough came in 2004 when a specific marker NMO-IgG was found for the disorder [1].? IgG stands for immunoglobulin (a kind of antibody). ? NMO-IgG is a autoantibody (an antibody against a protein in one’s own body) and turned out to target aquaporin-4 (a protein that is responsible for water channels in cells).?

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