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

The investigators wish to test a diagnostic risk score for autoimmune encephalitis in case of encephalitis, previously validated by two American teams, in a retrospective analysis, according to the clinical and paraclinical data available in our database of the Reference Centre for Autoimmune Encephalitis and Paraneoplastic Neurological Syndromes of Professor Honnorat for patients with NMDAr, anti LGi1, anti CASPR2, anti GABAbr and anti GAD antibodies.

NMDA receptor encephalitis is a rare neurological autoimmune disease with severe neuropsychiatric symptoms, but a typically good functional neurological outcome. The majority of patients experience long-term cognitive, psychological and social impairments that have significant consequences for their well-being and quality of life. However, as the disease was only recently discovered (Dalmau and al. Annals of neurology, 2007), this psycho-social impact has not been studied systematically and the resulting consequences for patients are not adequately appreciated. The proposed study aims at characterizing the cognitive and psycho-social long-term consequences of this rare disease. Our main hypothesis is that NMDAR encephalitis has a persistent and clinically relevant impact on the patients' long-term cognitive, psychological and social well-being. Furthermore, we hypothesize that longterm subjective outcomes depend on both internal and external factors, such as acute disease course, access to post-acute care, caregiver support, personal coping strategies, or access to health education resources and peer group support.

Autoimmune encephalitis (AE) and paraneoplastic neurological syndromes (PNS) are rare neuroimmune syndromes with a wide range of clinical presentation but without pathognomonic clinical sign facilitating the diagnosis. A lot of differential diagnoses are possible such as neurodegenerative diseases or viral infections. Although rare the diagnosis of AE or PNS is essential because despite severe neurological symptoms, patients can be cured by appropriate immunotherapy. Autoantibodies highly specific of AE and PNS has been described in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of the patients and can be used as biomarkers of the disease. Their presence can predict an autoimmune origin and in many cases a good prognosis after immunotherapy. However, if some autoantibodies are now well-characterized and industrial kits have been developed to detect them, in numerous cases of highly suspect AE or PNS no specific autoantibodies are identified leading frequently to an inappropriate treatment. Furthermore, as the mechanisms of AE and PNS is still unknown, treatments are not optimal and in some cases inefficient. There is no prognosis biomarker able to predict the patient's sensitivity to immunotherapy and there are only few clues to know how the immune system can provoke the neuropsychiatric symptoms observed in the patients.

Numerous neurological disorders affecting the central and peripheral nervous system can be attributed to the immune system through multiple effector mechanisms. However, current treatments could be drastically improved by faster and more accurate diagnosis. The sample collection will benefit to patients with rare neuroimmune syndromes such as Autoimmune Encephalitis (AE) and Paraneoplastic Neurological Syndromes (PNS) leading to a better and early diagnosis, as well as treatment improvement.

This pilot study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study of the efficacy of ocrelizumab in autoimmune encephalitis. Subjects with new diagnosis of autoimmune encephalitis will be invited to enroll in this study. Subjects will be randomized to receive ocrelizumab (an anti-CD20 therapy) or matched placebo, and will undergo three infusions over a six month period. Subjects will complete clinical visits over the study period, during which safety monitoring and neuropsychological assessments will be performed to assess for signs of clinical worsening from encephalitis. The primary outcome of this study is the proportion of patients who fail to complete the twelve month period without clinical worsening, as defined by the protocol. Subjects who experience early clinical worsening during the study may be offered open-label treatment with ocrelizumab at the discretion of the investigators.

The purpose of the initial screening study is to find out if immune problems are an unrecognized cause of epilepsy in some patients. This study consists of a single blood sample, which will be tested for possible immune abnormalities. If enough patients are found who show immune abnormalities, those patients who are still having uncontrolled seizures will be invited to participate in a study of immune treatment with a compound called intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). The study hypothesis is that a significant proportion of the young-onset, refractory, image-negative, partial-onset epilepsy population have an underlying autoimmune disorder, and many of these patients will respond to immune therapies, including IVIG. At present, the importance of immune abnormalities in causing epilepsy, and the proper treatment when they are found, are both poorly understood. The investigators hope that this study will help us understand the cause of some cases that are difficult to treat.

Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain in which people have repeated seizures. Autoimmune encephalitis (AE) is a rare cause of epilepsy. It is an inflammatory disease of the brain. This means that the body's own immune system attacks healthy brain tissue, just like it would if it were infected by a virus or a bacteria, by producing an army of proteins called 'antibodies' which go on to 'attack' healthy tissues. Seizures in AE typically do not respond well to classic 'anti-seizure medications'. Instead, medications which suppress the immune system are used. These can have significant side-effects and some patients will still continue to have seizures or experience a recurrence of AE-related epilepsy despite treatment. It is difficult to accurately predict who will experience these outcomes. This study aims to find ways of predicting and monitoring which people with AE are at greatest risk of these outcomes, so we can better direct them towards appropriate treatments. We will collect clinical information and samples of blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF, fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord) from people with AE and 'control' participants with other neurological illnesses. Samples will be analysed for markers which may help predict or correlate with outcomes in AE and better understand this condition.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of IGIV 10% in patients with autoimmune encephalitis

The purpose of this study is to determine whether low-dose IL-2 is effective in refractory autoimmune encephalitis.

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and feasibility of regenerative therapy with mesenchymal stem cells from adipose tissue, administered intravenously in patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis who do not respond to treatment.