FIGURE 1.

Combination of CSF immunoglobulin synthesis and frequencies in patients with and without presence of oligoclonal IgG bands. OCGB were present (⁺) in 473 patients, and 340 of them had additional IgG_IF and 130 showed presence of IgM_IF, whereas 46 had no (⁻) OCGB, IgG_IF, and IgM_IF. Patients were categorized into the following 4 groups according to the presence or absence of OCGB, IgG_IF, and IgM_IF: (1) OCGB⁻/IgG_IF ⁻/IgM_IF ⁻, n = 46 (green); (2) OCGB⁺/IgG_IF ⁻/IgM_IF ⁻, n = 114 (light blue); (3) OCGB⁺/IgG_IF ⁺/IgM_IF ⁻, n = 229 (blue); and (4) OCGB⁺/IgG_IF ⁺/IgM_IF ⁺, n = 111 (red). The presence of IgM_IF coincided with that of IgG_IF in 85.4% (111 of 130) samples (only 19 of 130 patients [15.6%] had an OCGB⁺/IgG_IF ⁻/IgM_IF ⁺ pattern). In OCGB⁻, 11 of 530 patients (2.1%) showed IgG_IF ⁺, IgM_IF ⁺, or IgA_IF ⁺ and were excluded from this categorization (not shown in figure). CSF = cerebrospinal fluid; IgG = immunoglobulin G; IgG_IF/M_IF/A_IF = immunoglobulin G/M/A intrathecal fraction; IgM = immunoglobulin M; OCGB = oligoclonal IgG bands; ⁺ = presence of OCGB or IgG/IgM by Reiber formula; ⁻ = absence of OCGB or IgG/IgM by Reiber formula.