Evidence of Autoimmunity in Movement and Psychiatric Disorders

Recent reports show that a significant subgroup of encephalitis cases with unclear etiology have an autoimmune origin. Basal ganglia encephalitis with movement and psychiatric disorders is part of a spectrum of autoimmune basal ganglia disorder. Autoantibodies have been detected in Sydenham chorea and Tourette syndrome. In this study, researchers aimed to identify autoantibodies in 17 patients (all children) with features compatible with basal ganglia encephalitis, movement disorders, and psychiatric or sleep disorders. Serum samples from all patients were negative for autoantibodies to the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (previously found in some patients with encephalitis). Numerous other etiologies had been ruled out through empirical inve…