title: Autoantibodies to neuronal antigens in children with focal epilepsy and no prima facie signs of encephalitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is increasing awareness of neuronal autoantibodies and their impact on the pathogenesis of epilepsy. We investigated children with focal epilepsy in order to provide an estimate of autoantibody frequency within a pediatric population without prima facie evidence of encephalitis using a broad panel of autoantibodies. This was done to assess the specificity of antibodies and to see whether antibodies might be of modifying influence on the course of focal epilepsies.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched for autoantibodies in 124 patients with focal epilepsy (1-18 years; mean 10; 6 years). Sera were tested using a broad panel of surface and intracellular antigens.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found autoantibodies in 5/124 patients (4%): high-positive GAD65 antibodies (n = 1), low-positive GAD65 antibodies (N = 1), VGKC complex antibodies not reactive with LGI1 or CASPR2 (n = 3). We did not find any distinctive features distinguishing antibody positive patients from those without antibodies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The antibodies found in this cohort are probably neither disease-specific nor pathogenic. This has been suggested before for these antigenic targets. Moreover, they do not seem to modify disease severity in the antibody-positive epilepsy patients.
authors.affiliation: Center for Child and Adolescent Medicine, HELIOS Hospital Wuppertal, Germany. Electronic address: peter.borusiak@helios-kliniken.de.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Borusiak
authors.affiliation: KiPraHi - Neuropediatric Medical Office Hirschaid, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bettendorf
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropediatrics, University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH, Campus Kiel), Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wiegand
authors.affiliation: Epilepsy Center Kork, Kehl, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bast
authors.affiliation: Epilepsy Center Vogtareuth, Germany; Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität (PMU) Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kluger
authors.affiliation: Center of Developmental Neurology, Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Philippi
authors.affiliation: Labor Krone, Bad Salzuflen, Germany.
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Münstermann
authors.affiliation: Epilepsy Center Bethel, Krankenhaus Mara, Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Bien
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004660:Encephalitis / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D004827:Epilepsy; D005260:Female; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase / Q000276:immunology; D050031:Hashimoto Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D024642:Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated / Q000276:immunology; D011506:Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; C403049:CNTNAP2 protein, human; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; C116499:LGI1 protein, human; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D024642:Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated; D011506:Proteins; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D005968:Glutamate Decarboxylase; C401141:glutamate decarboxylase 2
keywords: Autoimmune; GAD65; N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor; Pediatrics; VGKC