BACKGROUND Autoantibodies directed against glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD-Ab) have recently been described in a few patients with progressive cerebellar ataxia, suggesting an autoimmune physiopathologic mechanism. OBJECTIVE To determine the exact role of GAD-Ab and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic neurotransmission in the pathogenesis of cerebellar ataxia. DESIGN Case report. SETTIN...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Several autoimmune disorders have been reported to be associated with autoimmune thyroiditis and may coexist with other organ-specific autoantibodies. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the presence of tissue transglutaminase (anti-TTG) and glutamic acid decarboxylase (anti-GAD) antibodies in patients suffering from autoimmune thyroiditis as diagnosed by anti-t...

A 62-year-old woman with one-year history of type 1 diabetes mellitus was admitted to our hospital with progressive weakness in the lower extremities and urinary dysfunction following high fever. On admission, she had rigidity and myoclonus in the upper extremities with sensory ataxia. Cerebrospinal fluid examination revealed mild pleocytosis and oligoclonal band. Glutamic acid decarboxylase (G...

Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is marked by circulating antibodies to a 64,000-M(r) islet cell antigen identified as glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD). We describe a radioimmunoprecipitation assay with GAD isolated from pig brain. The sera tested were from 80 patients with IDDM including 26 with disease of recent onset and 54 with disease of longer duration (3-42 yr), 20 with non-in...

Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and tyrosine phosphatase IA-2 antibody levels were measured in 375 healthy children and adults and in 187 children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM). GAD antibody levels were determined by radioimmunoassay, and IA-2 antibody levels by immunoprecipitation. Healthy children had higher GAD antibody levels than adults (p < 0.001). The 98th percenti...

PURPOSE The aetiology of adult onset epilepsy remains unascertained in a significant proportion of patients. Antibodies directed against neuronal antigens have been suggested to have a potential pathogenic role in some cases of epilepsy. We describe a series of patients with adult onset epilepsy in whom antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD Abs) have been identified. METHODS All pati...

The aim of this study was to investigate the frequencies of clinical diabetes and humoral markers of anti-pancreatic autoimmunity in a homogeneous population of 600 Caucasian patients with recently diagnosed Graves' disease (GD), in order to characterize the specific features of this group of endocrine patients among subjects at risk of diabetes. Ten were already diabetic at GD diagnosis. Among...

Limbic encephalitis is a rare disorder affecting the medial temporal lobe of the brain, sometimes also involving hippocampus atrophy. It was initially considered to be only of paraneoplastic origin but now auto-immune (non-paraneoplastic) cases have also been reported. Most common non paraneoplastic antibodies associated with limbic encephalitis are Voltage gated potassium channel antibodies, N...