Significance of Neuronal Autoantibodies in Comparison to Infectious Etiologies among Patients Presenting with Encephalitis in a Region with a High Prevalence of Infections.

Background: Prevalence of antibody-mediated autoimmune encephalitis (AE) is reported to be comparable to infectious encephalitis in Western populations. We evaluated the frequency and significance of AE and neuronal autoantibodies in comparison to infectious etiologies among patients presenting with encephalitis in a South Asian population.

Methods: Ninety-nine consecutive patients with a clinical diagnosis of encephalitis/meningoencephalitis admitted to two of the largest tertiary-care hospitals in Sri Lanka were studied.

Investigation of neuronal auto-antibodies in children diagnosed with epileptic encephalopathy of unknown cause.

Aim: Cryptogenic forms of epileptic encephalopathies (EE) with their well-known features of drug-resistance, mental deterioration and partial response to immunotherapies are ideal candidates for screening for neuronal autoantibodies (NAA).

Method: Fifty consecutive pediatric patients with a diagnosis of EE of unknown cause were included. Nine NAAs were tested by ELISA, RIA or cell-based assays.

Neuronal autoantibodies in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis.

Objective: Our aim was to investigate the prevalence of neuronal autoantibodies (NAbs) in a large consecutive series with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS) and to elucidate the clinical and laboratory clues for detection of NAbs in this prototype of frequent, drug-resistant epilepsy syndrome.

Methods: Consecutive patients diagnosed with MTLE fulfilling the MRI criteria for HS were enrolled. The sera of patients and various control groups (80 subjects) were tested for eight NAbs after ethical approval and signed consents.

Neuronal autoantibodies in epilepsy patients with peri-ictal autonomic findings.

Autonomic dysfunction has frequently been reported in autoimmune encephalitis associated with seizures and there is growing evidence that epilepsy patients may display neuronal autoantibodies (NAAb). The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of NAAb in epilepsy patients with peri-ictal autonomic findings. Fifty-eight patients (37 women/21 men; average age of 34.