• Epilepsia · Mar 2014

    Investigation of neuronal autoantibodies in two different focal epilepsy syndromes.

    • Esme Ekizoglu, Erdem Tuzun, Mark Woodhall, Bethan Lang, Leslie Jacobson, Sema Icoz, Nerses Bebek, Candan Gurses, Aysen Gokyigit, Patrick Waters, Angela Vincent, and Betul Baykan.
    • Department of Neurology, Epilepsy Center (EPIMER) and Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
    • Epilepsia. 2014 Mar 1; 55 (3): 414-22.

    ObjectiveNeuronal antibodies have been identified in patients with seizures as the main or sole symptom. Our aim was to investigate the prevalence of these autoantibodies in patients with focal epilepsy of unknown cause (FEoUC) and in the group having mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS).MethodsWe studied anti-neuronal antibodies of consecutive adult patients diagnosed with FEoUC and MTLE-HS in our epilepsy center. The clinical and laboratory features of antibody-positive patients were compared with those of seronegative patients. The responses to therapy have also been investigated.ResultsSera from 81 patients with epilepsy were tested. We found antibodies against glycine receptor (GLY-R) in 5 (6.2%), contactin-associated protein 2 (CASPR-2) in 4 (4.9%), N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDA-R) in 2 (2.5%), and voltage-gated potassium channel (VGKC)-complex in 2 (2.5%) of our patients with epilepsy. Psychotic attacks and nonspecific magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) white matter changes (WMCs) showed significant associations in seropositive patients (p = 0.003 and p = 0.03, respectively). Poor drug-response rates and total seizure counts were also higher in the seropositive patients but without reaching statistical significance. Three seropositive patients with previous epilepsy surgery showed typical histopathologic results for MTLE-HS, but not inflammatory changes. Moreover, some patients harboring these antibodies partly benefited from immunotherapy.SignificanceWe detected neuronal antibodies in one sixth of patients with focal epilepsy, GLY-R antibodies being the leading one. Psychosis or nonspecific MRI WMCs were frequent in the seropositive group. Our results suggested that relevant antibodies should be screened for a treatment possibility in these groups.Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2014 International League Against Epilepsy.

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