{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T10:17:45Z","timestamp":1788171465180,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788134400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We aimed to quantify the relationship between CSF IL-6 compartmentalization and MRI lesion extent in patients with MOG-CCE, and to evaluate the CSF\/serum IL-6 ratio as a biomarker of CNS-compartmentalized inflammation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Eight MOG-CCE patients (\u226514 years old) were retrospectively enrolled. CSF and serum cytokines (IL-6, IL-17, IFN-\u03b3) and MRI scans were collected. A semi-quantitative MRI scoring system (0\u20139) was developed; inter-rater reliability was assessed by two independent radiologists. Associations were evaluated using Spearman correlation and simple linear regression.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>All patients presented with seizures at onset. Median CSF IL-6 (284.53 pg\/mL) markedly exceeded paired serum levels (2.25 pg\/mL; Z\u00a0=\u00a02.521, p = 0.012; Cohen\u2019s d = 1.084). The median CSF\/serum IL-6 ratio was 220.33 (IQR: 64.26\u2013690.89), exceeding 1 in all patients. The MRI scoring system showed good inter-rater reliability (87.5% concordance; P\u00a0=\u00a00.893). The total MRI score correlated significantly with CSF IL-6 (r = 0.819, p = 0.013) and the CSF\/serum IL-6 ratio (r = 0.807, p = 0.015). Simple linear regression confirmed that the Ln-transformed ratio predicted MRI score (R\u00b2 = 0.573, p = 0.030, B\u00a0=\u00a00.659, \u03b2 = 0.757). Crucially, the ratio showed no significant correlation with conventional systemic inflammatory markers.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>CSF IL-6 levels correlated significantly with MRI severity in MOG-CCE. The Ln-transformed CSF\/serum IL-6 ratio explained approximately 57.3% of MRI variance and was uncorrelated with systemic inflammatory indices, supporting its specificity for CNS-compartmentalized immune activation. These findings position the CSF\/serum IL-6 ratio as a candidate quantitative biomarker of local CNS inflammatory intensity and lesion burden in MOG-CCE. As an exploratory, hypothesis-generating pilot study (n = 8), these results require prospective validation in larger cohorts with Reiber graph analysis before the ratio can be adopted as a clinical biomarker.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2026.1921290","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T09:49:10Z","timestamp":1788169750000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["CSF\/serum IL-6 ratio and its correlation with mri severity in mog antibody-associated cerebral cortical encephalitis: an exploratory pilot study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Honglian","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Provincial People\u2019s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College","place":["Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"]},{"name":"Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Jiangxi, National Regional Center for Neurological Diseases","place":["Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoqing","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Provincial People\u2019s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College","place":["Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"]},{"name":"Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Jiangxi, National Regional Center for Neurological Diseases","place":["Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jie","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Provincial People\u2019s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College","place":["Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"]},{"name":"Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Jiangxi, National Regional Center for Neurological Diseases","place":["Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mengting","family":"Xiong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Provincial People\u2019s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College","place":["Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"]},{"name":"Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Jiangxi, National Regional Center for Neurological Diseases","place":["Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dan","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Provincial People\u2019s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College","place":["Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"]},{"name":"Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Jiangxi, National Regional Center for Neurological Diseases","place":["Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zicong","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Provincial People\u2019s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College","place":["Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wentao","family":"Dong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Provincial People\u2019s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College","place":["Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaomu","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University","place":["Nanchang, Jiangxi, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gang","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Provincial People\u2019s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang 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