In response to “a gamma-secretase inhibitor decreases amyloid-beta production in the central nervous system”

✍ Scribed by Joseph J. Raybon; Charles F. Albright

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 66 KB
• Volume: 67
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0364-5134
• DOI: 10.1002/ana.21929

✦ Synopsis

published data). Yet several authors have provided thorough descriptions of patients who likely had anti-NMDAR encephalitis. In 1981, DeLong et al 2 reported 2 children with "acquired reversible autistic syndrome" that closely resembles anti-NMDAR encephalitis. Likewise, in 1992 Dr Se ´bire and colleagues 3 reported 6 patients with "coma associated with intense bursts of abnormal movements and long lasting cognitive and behavioral disturbances." These authors considered an immune-mediated pathogenesis unlikely because of the absence of pleocytosis and uncommon seizures. As these are frequent features of anti-NMDAR encephalitis, whether these patients had the disorder will remain unknown unless archived serum or cerebrospinal fluid is available for study. Such studies clarified that 4 patients who had been diagnosed with an unknown infectious process in fact had anti-NMDAR encephalitis, 4 as well as some patients previously considered to have encephalitis lethargica. As for the significance of the NMDA receptor antibodies, published and recently presented data demonstrate that these antibodies dramatically alter the levels and function of NMDA receptors in vitro and in vivo, supporting a pathogenic role.