Research
In many areas of medicine, treatments are increasingly becoming targeted in a way that benefits patients. This is happening in fields ranging from oncology to neurological disease. In this month’s Neurology Now, treatment for autoimmune encephalitis is being cited as one area where “precision medicine” holds promise for better and targeted treatments according to antibody […]
The Journal of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Psychiatry reports on autoimmune encephalitis patients treated with immune based therapy including rituximab. Authors Dowland F, Swayne A, Bhuta S, et. al. discuss three cases and conclude, “The field of neuro-immunology has seen a plethora of newly discovered autoantibodies, yet there remain a significant number of patients, with features suggestive […]
Medpage Today reports that the FDA has approved the biologic drug ocrelizumab (Ocrevus) for treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis. Ocrelizumab is an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody targeting B cells which is the same mechanism of action as rituximab (Rituxan), which some earlier studies found to be effective against both relapsing-remitting and progressive MS. Off-label use of rituximab […]
Science Direct has published an article by authors van Sonderen, M.W.J. Schreurs , P.W. Wirtz , P.A.E. Sillevis Smitt, and M.J. Titulaer that a wide variety of clinical syndromes has been associated with antibodies to voltage-gated potassium channels (VGKCs). Six years ago, it was discovered that patients do not truly have antibodies to potassium channels, but […]
The Journal of the American Medical Association Nuerology reports the following by authors Volker Behrendt, MD1; Christos Krogias, MD1; Anke Reinacher-Schick, MD2; Ralf Gold, MD1; and Ingo Kleiter, MD1: Anti-NMDAR autoimmune encephalitis, associated with ovarian teratoma, predominantly affects young females.1 Because antibodies against subunits of the NMDAR contribute to the pathogenesis, methods targeting humoral immunity are therapeutically efficacious.2 However, some patients have an unsatisfactory outcome after high-dose corticosteroids, apheresis […]
It is often difficult to clinically diagnosis autoimmune encephalitis because patients’ symptoms can be so widely varied. In the Sept. 2016, issue of The Lancet Neurology, Francesc Graus and colleagues proposed an initial diagnostic work-up relying on conventional neurological evaluation and standard diagnostic tests such as MRI, CSF sampling, and EEG. This approach would enable clinicians to make […]
One of the one of the largest university hospitals in Europe, Charite’, recorded significant progress in treating anti-NMDAR, including in patients who did not previously respond to treatment. Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis is an inflammatory disease that affects the central nervous system. It is a rare autoimmune disease that results in the body producing antibodies against […]
The Autoimmune Encephalitis Alliance and Option Care Enterprises, Inc. are co-sponsoring a clinical trial at Mayo Clinic to evaluate intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment in patients with autoimmune epilepsy who fail to benefit from standard epilepsy medications. This study, the first of its kind, builds on Mayo Clinic research advances identifying new approaches to the diagnosis and treatment […]
Autoimmune encephalitis in psychiatric institutions: current perspectives Bost et al. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2016; 12: 2775–2787. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5089825/ Autoimmune encephalitis is a rare and newly described group of diseases involving autoantibodies directed against synaptic and neuronal cell surface antigens. As neurological symptoms are fairly well described in the literature, this review focuses on the nature of […]
The Autoimmune Encephalitis Alliance, along with Children’s National Health System, and the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance, co-sponsored the first International Pediatric Autoimmune Encephalitis Treatment Consensus Meeting at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC, on November 14. “The AE Alliance was honored to help bring many of the world’s leading experts […]
