Detection of M2-Type Anti-Mitochondrial Autoantibodies against Specific Subunits in the Diagnosis of Primary Biliary Cholangitis in Patients with Discordant Results.

Background: M2-type anti-mitochondrial autoantibodies are considered the hallmark of primary biliary cholangitis and are directed mainly against the E2 subunits of the 2-oxo acid dehydrogenase complex enzymes (PDC, BCOADC and OGDC). The aim of this study was to determine whether a Dot-blot that includes these E2 subunits separately could confirm the results of methods with non-separated subunits in patients with low positive or discordant results between techniques.

Methods: Sera of 24 patients with low positive or discordant results and of 10 patients with clear positive results by non-separated subunits methods were analyzed by Dot-blot with separated subunits.

CSF Biomarkers in COVID-19 Associated Encephalopathy and Encephalitis Predict Long-Term Outcome.

Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) frequently develop acute encephalopathy and encephalitis, but whether these complications are the result from viral-induced cytokine storm syndrome or anti-neural autoimmunity is still unclear. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic role of CSF and serum biomarkers of inflammation (a wide array of cytokines, antibodies against neural antigens, and IgG oligoclonal bands), and neuroaxonal damage (14-3-3 protein and neurofilament light [NfL]) in patients with acute COVID-19 and associated neurologic manifestations (neuro-COVID). We prospectively included 60 hospitalized neuro-COVID patients, 25 (42%) of them with encephalopathy and 14 (23%) with encephalitis, and followed them for 18 months.