Contributors Publication dates Originally released September 2, 1994; last updated June 7, 2010; expires June 7, 2013 Synonyms Stiff-man syndrome Key points • Stiff-person syndrome is a rare disorder that causes continuous muscle contraction with spasm, abnormal postures, and progressive disability. • Stiff-person syndrome is often associated with other autoimmune signs and symptoms as well as ...

BACKGROUND Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) is the rate-limiting enzyme for producing γ-aminobutyric acid, and it has been suggested that antibodies against GAD play a role in neurological conditions and type 1 diabetes. However, it is not known whether dementia appears as the sole neurological manifestation associated with anti-GAD antibodies in the central nervous system. CASE PRESENTATION...

The antibody of the nervous system is called antibodies that the body makes to the nervous system cells. These antibodies are also very diverse based on the complexity and diversity of the nervous system, and therefore their detection is also associated with particular challenges. Generally, autoimmune diseases are on the rise. The diagnostic techniques for autoimmune diseases are also in progr...

A number of patients with type 2 diabetes are GAD antibody positive. A Diabetes Outcome Progression Trial (ADOPT) is a randomized, double-blind clinical trial in recently diagnosed drug-naive patients with type 2 diabetes that allows for the evaluation of GAD positivity in the context of anthropometric and biochemical characteristics. Of the 4,134 subjects enrolled in ADOPT for whom GAD status ...

gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) and its synthetic enzyme, glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), are not limited to the nervous system but are also found in nonneural tissues. The mammalian brain contains at least two forms of GAD (GAD67 and GAD65), which differ from each other in size, sequence, immunoreactivity, and their interaction with the cofactor pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP). We used cDNAs and an...

OBJECTIVE To describe the neuropathologic findings and clinical course of 2 patients who underwent temporal lobectomy for medically refractive epilepsy and were later found to have high anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) concentrations. METHODS Small case series. RESULTS Neuropathologic examination of both patients revealed International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) type 3 hippocampal...

T hese guidelines represent the recommendations of the Immunology of Diabetes Society (IDS) on the assessment of risk of type 1 diabetes in unaffected first-degree relatives of patients with the disease, and are based on the consensus reached at a symposium held at the fourth meeting of the IDS (Fiuggi, Italy, November 1999). Assessment of risk of type 1 diabetes in relatives was initially base...

Stiff-person syndrome (SPS) is a rare disorder, characterized by progressive fluctuating muscular rigidity and spasms. Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antibody is primarily involved in the pathogenesis of SPS and SPS is strongly associated with other autoimmune disease. Here we report three cases of patients with classical SPS finally confirmed by high serum level of GAD antibodies. All of ou...

Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) is the enzyme that synthesizes the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in neurons and in pancreatic beta cells. It is a major target of autoimmunity in Stiff-Man syndrome (SMS), a rare neurological disease, and in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The two GAD isoforms, GAD-65 and GAD-67, are the products of two different genes. GAD-67 and GAD-65 ...