Specificity and sensitivity of aquaporin 4 antibody detection tests in patients with neuromyelitis optica: A meta-analysis

Objective Antibodies against water channel protein aquaporin 4 (AQP4) in astrocytes play a role in the etiology and physiopathology of neuromyelitis optica (NMO); detection of this immunoglobulin in serum is highly suggestive of this diagnosis. There are several immunoassays to detect the antibody with different sensitivities and specificities. We conducted a meta-analysis to determine the overall diagnostic accuracy from these tests. Methods We...