CIRCULATING AUTOANTIBODIES AGAINST CENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM (CNS) ANTIGENS IN NEUROLOGICAL DISEASES

A number of investigators have reported the detection of circulating a utoantibodies directed against serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) neu ronal antigens in certain neurological clinical conditions. Using an i mmunohistochemical technique, we examined the sera and (when available ) the CSF from 120 patients with several neurological disorders and 40 controls in order to analyze the incidence and specificity of the det ection of these autoantibodies. Circulating autoantibodies were found in 3 patients with cerebellar degeneration and in 3 patients with stif f-man syndrome, and different staining patterns were revealed in the s ame disease. Our findings confirm the reported disease-specificity of the detection of these autoantibodies in biological fluids, suggesting that a standardized immunohistochemical technique could constitute an easy and reproducible diagnostic tool in selected neurological condit ions. These procedures enable the identification of an immunological p athogenesis of the disease and, in some case, early cancer detection. When atypical staining patterns of staining are found at immunohistoch emistry, Western blot characterization of the recognized neuronal anti gens is recommended.