Active clinical trials for "Autoimmune Diseases of the Nervous System"

This study is being conducted to investigate risk factors for disability progression in Multiple Sclerosis and related disorders (MSRD). The primary goal is to assess whether combining information from visual assessment, blood markers, as well as historical and ongoing longitudinal MRIs of the brain, orbit (the part of the skull where eyes are located), and/or spinal cord can predict changes in quantitative disability measures related to MSRD and neurological disease.

The number of acute encephalitides diagnosed each year is gradually increasing, reaching approximately 5 to 10/100,000 per year; more than 50% of etiologies currently remain unknown. The majority of them are acute encephalitis of infectious origin, but it is estimated that 20% of encephalitis in northern Europe is related to an autoimmune mechanism with the majority of encephalitis with anti-NMDA Ac discovered recently in 2007. The study of a large American encephalitis cohort showed a death rate of 3% to 7% in cases of autoimmune encephalitis. Furthermore, delay in the initiation of effective treatment (tumor removal or immunotherapy) beyond 4 weeks is associated with a poor prognosis at 1 year. It is therefore necessary to better understand the signs of autoimmune encephalitis in order to recognize the disease quickly and to start a treatment quickly; in order to improve the management and the prognosis of these children.

This study aims to characterize the clinical features, frequency of different subgroups of MG, and identify predictors of treatment responsiveness among different subgroups of MG. The predictors are including primary outcome (percentage of changes in MG scales at baseline at time of enrollment and after 3 months) and secondary outcome (treatment-related adverse events). Also it aims to determine the frequency of patients with refractory MG. This information will be used to understand the trends and mechanisms of disease relapse, and optimal management strategies.

The overall objectives are to explore the safety and efficacy of Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors Tenofovir (TDF)/ Emtricitabine (FTC) administered in AGS affected children 2 to 18 years of age.

Previously, scholars called the seizures secondary to autoimmune encephalitis（AE） "autoimmune related epilepsy", but the seizures secondary to AE are usually controlled after the improvement of encephalitis, which does not meet the "persistent" characteristics of epilepsy. Only a subset of patients with seizures lasting several years require long-term Antiseizure medications (ASM). In 2020, the International Coalition against Epilepsy classified it as "acute symptomatic seizure secondary to AE". ASSAE) and autoimmune-associated epilepsy (AAE) . The former is caused by AE, which has clinical manifestations of AE at the same time as epileptic seizures at the beginning or recurrence. The proportion and type of epileptic seizures are different due to different causes, and epileptic seizures are also controlled after the disease is controlled. The latter is that after adequate immunotherapy, there are still persistent seizures, and there is no obvious evidence of inflammatory activity, this type of patient application ASM and immunotherapy is not effective. Secondly, with the deepening of AE research, gradually found that some AAE can still be ASMs cure, such as carbamazepine, ocasepine, lakaosamine. On the one hand, it works by influencing cellular and humoral immune responses. On the other hand, effectiveness of sodium channel blockers in focal epilepsy. Lacosamide is a slow sodium channel blocker that belongs to the third generation of ASM. It has a short half-life and can be quickly increased to an effective dose with a low incidence of adverse reactions. Therefore, the investigators chose to add oral antiepileptic therapy with lacosamide in AAE populations to observe efficacy and safety.

Autoimmune encephalitis (AE) are characterized by subacute onset of memory deficits, altered mental status or psychiatric symptoms, frequently associated with seizures, inflammatory cerebrospinal fluid and in cases with prominent limbic involvement, typical magnetic resonance imaging. Several autoantibodies (Abs) may be detected in AE, although its detection is not mandatory to establish a diagnosis. These Abs mainly recognize different synaptic and cell-surface proteins in the central nervous system, and are thought to be pathogenic as they alter the normal location or function of its antigens. Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes (PNS) are immune-mediated, remote complications of cancer. The clinical presentation is highly diverse, from central nervous system disorders (limbic encephalitis, cerebellar ataxia) to peripheral neuropathies and neuromuscular junction diseases. Two different kinds of Abs are associated with PNS: a first group known as onconeural Abs, which recognize intracellular antigens and are thought not to be pathogenic; and a second one whose targeted synaptic and cell-surface antigens shared with some non-paraneoplastic AE. The primary trigger of the immune response is unknown for most of AE. In addition to acquired susceptibility such as herpes simplex encephalitis, genetic predisposition may also be important in the pathogenesis of AE. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) is the genetic factor most frequently associated with autoimmune diseases, due to its genetic complexity and key role in the adaptive immune response. Others and we already described the HLA haplotypes associated with three types different of AE: anti-leucine-rich glioma inactivated 1 (LGI1), anti-contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2), and anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD). Nevertheless, the genetic predisposition of many other AE has not been investigated yet. Cancer is considered as the trigger of the immune response that lead to PNS development, as the neural antigens recognized by the onconeural Abs are also expressed by tumor cells. Nevertheless, it is still unknown why some patients develop PNS and others do not, even if they present the same histological type of tumor, suggesting that some particular, maybe genetic, characteristics of the patients may play a role in this susceptibility. Furthermore, there is already evidence that, for those neurological diseases that may appear either as PNS or as non-paraneoplastic autoimmune disorder (i.e. Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome), HLA profiles are not the same.

Autoimmune encephalitis is brain inflammation caused by the immune system mistakenly reacting against proteins in the brain. The commonest form is called NMDAR-antibody encephalitis (N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antibody encephalitis), a rare condition which mainly affects children and young people and causes difficulties in memory, thinking and mental health which can have significant long-term impacts on education, employment and quality of life. In this project we will use advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure changes in the structure, function and chemistry of the brains of children and young people who are in early recovery from NMDAR-antibody encephalitis and other forms of immune-mediated encephalitis. We will investigate if MRI measurements in patients differ from those in healthy people, and if they can help predict patient outcome one year later, assessed by tests of memory, thinking, mental health and functioning in daily life.

The goal of this retrospective observational study is to compare brain fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) of patients with autoimmune encephalitis, normal controls and patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The main question it aims to answer is: •is there a specific pattern of brain metabolism in patients with autoimmune encephalitis Participants data and images will be retrospectively collected from hospital records, and FDG-PET images will be analyzed by means of statistical parametric mapping (SPM). Controls will be selected from validated public databases.

Autoimmune encephalitis are characterized by the subacute development of memory deficits, altered mental status, and psychiatric symptoms, generally in association with anti-neuronal antibodies. Two main groups of autoimmune encephalitis may be distinguished based on the location of the targeted antigen: 1) Intracellular antigens, in which the antibodies are thought not to be pathogenic, and the disorders are usually strongly associated with cancer, constituting therefore paraneoplastic neurological syndromes; 2) Synaptic proteins and surface receptors, in which the antibodies are pathogenic and the frequency of cancer is variable depending on the antibody and the demographic characteristics of the patient. Encephalitis with antibodies against N-methy-D-aspartate receptor is the most common autoimmune encephalitis, being even more frequent than infectious etiologies. It is characterized by subacute onset of memory deficits, psychiatric symptoms, speech dysfunction, seizures, movement disorders, decreased level of consciousness, dysautonomia and central hypoventilation. Nearly 50% of women with anti-NMDAR encephalitis have an ovarian teratoma, while associated tumors in elderly patients are usually carcinomas. In contrast, most cases in children and young men are non-paraneoplastic. Recently, herpes-simplex encephalitis has been described as another trigger of NMDAR encephalitis. Conversely, for the vast majority of the non-paraneoplastic autoimmune encephalitis, no acquired triggers have been described so far. In addition to acquired susceptibility, genetic predisposition may also be important in the pathogenesis of autoimmune encephalitis. The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) is the genetic factor most frequently associated with autoimmune diseases, and it has been already linked to a few autoimmune encephalitis, such as anti-leucine rich glioma inactivated 1 (LGI1), contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CASPR2), IgLON5, and glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65) encephalitis. However, no HLA association has been reported for NMDAR encephalitis, suggesting that in this condition, and likely in others, non-HLA loci might be involved in the pathogenesis as well. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are useful tools to identify variants at genomic loci that are associated with complex diseases, and in particular, to detect associations between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and diseases. The aim of the study is to detect genetic variants in NMDAR encephalitis and other autoimmune encephalitis.

Autoimmune encephalitis represents a group of rare and heterogeneous neurological disorders. Pathophysiological mechanisms in these diseases are still unknown. Recently, oculomotor and neurovisual disorders have been described. Cerebral areas and neuronal networks associated with these abnormalities are well described. The investigator proposes to study and describe such neuro-ophthalmological disorders in a prospective cohort of patients with a autoimmune encephalitis, to better understand the pathophysiological basis of this neurological condition.