This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

...This change in MBP conformation would free the epitope for T cell recognition and suggests a mechanism of action potentially initiated by alterations in myelin structure. This hypothesis is supported by a recent study describing antibody enzymes (abzymes) that catalyze MBP in a site-specific degradation (3). The C8 MBP isoform is also more abundant in immature myelin, and results of this study support the hypothesis that myelin structure in MS is developmentally immature (4), contributing to altered myelin stability and possibly the initiation of the disease.