Objective To report the clinical, radiological, and immunological association of demyelinating disorders with anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis. Methods Clinical and radiological analysis of a cohort of 691 patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis. Determination of antibodies to NMDAR, aquaporin-4 (AQP4) and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) was performed using brain immunohistochemistry and cell-based assays. Results Twenty-three of 691 patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis had prominent MRI and/or clinical features of demyelination. Group 1 included 12 patients in whom anti-NMDAR encephalitis was preceded or followed by independent episodes of NMO-spectrum disorder (5 cases, 4 anti-AQP4-positive), or brainstem or multifocal demyelinating syndromes (7 cases, all anti-MOG-positive). Group 2 included 11 patients in whom anti-NMDAR encephalitis occurred simultaneously with MRI and symptoms compatible with demyelination (5 AQ4-positive, 2 MOG-positive). Group 3 (136 controls) included 50 randomly selected patients with typical anti-NMDAR encephalitis, 56 with NMO, and 30 with multiple sclerosis: NMDAR-antibodies were detected only in the 50 anti-NMDAR patients, MOG-antibodies in 3/50 anti-NMDAR and 1/56 NMO patients, and AQP4-antibodies in 48/56 NMO and 1/50 anti-NMDAR patients (p<0.0001 for all comparisons with Groups 1 and 2). Most patients improved with immunotherapy, but compared with anti-NMDAR encephalitis the demyelinating episodes required more intensive therapy and resulted in more residual deficits. Only 1/23 NMDAR patients with signs of demyelination had ovarian teratoma compared with 18/50 anti-NMDAR controls (p=0.011) Interpretation Patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis may develop concurrent or separate episodes of demyelinating disorders, and conversely patients with NMO or demyelinating disorders with atypical symptoms (e.g., dyskinesias, psychosis) may have anti-NMDAR encephalitis.

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Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an acute immune-mediated polyradiculoneuropathy which can cause acute quadriplegia. Infection with micro-organisms, including Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni), Haemophilus influenzae, and Cytomegalovirus (CMV), is recognized as a main triggering event for the disease. Lipooligosaccharide (LOS) genes are responsible for the formation of human ganglioside-like LOS structures in infectious micro-organisms that can induce GBS. Molecular mimicry of LOSs on the surface of infectious agents and of ganglioside antigens on neural cells is thought to induce cross-reactive humoral and cellular immune responses. Patients with GBS develop antibodies against those gangliosides, resulting in autoimmune targeting of peripheral nerve sites, leading to neural damage. Heterogeneity of ganglioside expression in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) may underlie the differential clinical manifestation of the GBS variants. Recent studies demonstrate that some GBS sera react with ganglioside complexes consisting of two different gangliosides, such as GD1a and GD1b, or GM1 and GD1a, but not with each constituent ganglioside alone. The discovery of antiganglioside complex antibodies not only improves the detection rate of autoantibodies in GBS, but also provides a new concept in the antibody-antigen interaction through clustered carbohydrate epitopes. Although ganglioside mimicry is one of the possible etiological causes of GBS, unidentified factors may also contribute to the pathogenesis of GBS. While GBS is not considered a genetic disease, host factors, particularly human lymphocyte antigen type, appear to have a role in the pathogenesis of GBS following C. jejuni infection.

CAM includes clinicohistopathologically heterogeneous disease entities. Among CAM entities, anti-TIF1-γ-Ab(+) CAM has characteristically shown a close temporal association with cancer detection and the histopathologic findings of dC5b-9 and VFs, and CAM with NAM is a subset of anti-TIF1-γ-Ab(-) CAM.

Antibodies specific for a complex of gangliosides GD1a and GD1b (GD1a/GD1b) were found in sera from eight of 100 patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) by the use of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and thin-layer chromatogram immunostaining. Those sera also had antibody activities to such ganglioside complexes as GD1a/GM1, GD1b/GT1b, and GM1/GT1b but had little or no reactivity to the each isolated antigen. Clustered epitopes of the ganglioside complex in the plasma membrane may be targeted by such an antibody, and interaction between the antibody and ganglioside complex may induce the neuropathy.

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BBE is a rare disorder but accounts for a major proportion of brainstem encephalitis. BBE consists of typical and atypical cases. Typical BBE has similar neurological and serological features to Fisher syndrome and shows good recovery whereas atypical BBE is characterised by delayed recovery, negative anti-GQ1b antibodies, and abnormal CSF and brain MRI findings with other possible pathogeneses.