FRIDAY, Sept. 15 (HealthDay News) -- There are a range of neurological syndromes associated with glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD65) autoimmunity, according to a study published in the September issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Sean J. Pittock, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minn., and colleagues conducted a retrospective study of 62 patients with GAD65-specific autoimmunity. Initially, most of the patients presented with conditions that were considered to be neurodegenerative or inflammatory in nature.
In all, 77 percent of the patients were women and had a median age of 50. Although less than 10 percent of the Mayo Clinic's neurology patients are black, 23 percent of the patients in the study were black.
In 41 patients, there were multiple manifestations of GAD65 autoimmunity, including 63 percent with cerebellar ataxia, 29 percent with brainstem involvement, 27 percent with seizures, 26 percent with stiff-man phenomena, 16 percent with extrapyramidal signs and eight percent with myelopathy. Short-term immunosuppression had benefited some patients.
"The neurological spectrum associated with GAD65 autoimmunity is broader than previously recognized and includes brainstem, extrapyramidal and spinal cord syndromes," the authors concluded. "In patients with recent-onset neurological disorders and high serum levels of GAD65 antibody, immunotherapy should be considered," they added.
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