New treatment for autoimmune encephalitis

Josep Dalmau

Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Spain

Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis is a rare disease caused by the patient's own immune system attacking a brain receptor called NMDA. It is the most common encephalitis mediated by antibodies against a neuronal protein or receptor. It mainly affects young adults and children, causing psychiatric symptoms such as psychosis and neurological symptoms (seizures, memory loss, abnormal movements and even coma). After treatment, patients improve, but can continue to suffer from psychiatric and cognitive disorders for months or years, generating a significant social, economic and family burden.

The cause of these long-lasting symptoms and how to treat them is currently unknown. Better knowledge of this stage could help to improve decision-making about the most appropriate treatment, as well as predicting the patient's prognosis more precisely.

In this project, the researchers will examine the alterations that occur in the brain through a study in which they will recruit patients, who will attend visits and undergo a series of tests, both in hospital and at home via mobile devices. The aim will be to identify biomarkers in blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples in order to find the optimal treatment for these patients, who will undergo online cognitive neurorehabilitation sessions.

The researchers will also use a new animal model of the disease in an attempt to better understand the cause of symptoms at molecular level, in the hope that this knowledge will open the door to designing new treatment strategies that can speed up patients' recovery.

Thais Armangue, Fundació Privada per a la Recerca i la Docència Sant Joan de Déu, Spain

Antibody-mediated NMDA receptor encephalitis: symptoms, biomarkers, and mechanisms of the prolonged recovery stage

€972,352.39