OBJECTIVES To investigate associations between autoimmune disorders and Parkinson disease (PD), and to study whether the risk is associated with follow-up time and age. METHODS Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) were calculated for PD in patients with autoimmune disorders by comparing them to subjects without autoimmune disorders. RESULTS Among 310,522 patients with a total of 33 conditio...

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and attacks of muscle atonia triggered by strong emotions (cataplexy). Narcolepsy is caused by hypocretin (orexin) deficiency, paralleled by a dramatic loss in hypothalamic hypocretin-producing neurons. It is believed that narcolepsy is an autoimmune disorder, although definitive proof of this, such as the presence of ...

There is an increasing awareness that autoimmune diseases can present with neuropsychiatric manifestations. We present the case of a 17-year-old female requiring psychiatric hospitalization for obsessive-compulsive disorder and major depressive disorder with mixed affective features, who was subsequently diagnosed with primary Sjogren's syndrome. Treatment with potent immunosuppression resulted...

Autoimmune polyendocrinopathy-candidiasis-ectodermal dystrophy (APECED), also named as autoimmune polyglandular syndrome (APS) type 1, is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in autoimmune regulator (AIRE) gene. It is distinguished by an immune-mediated damage of endocrine tissues, chronic candidiasis, and ectodermal disorder. APECED has been shown to be frequent in some popu...

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated lymphoid proliferations are a well-recognized complication of congenital or acquired systemic immunosuppression. The CNS is a frequent site for development of such lymphoid proliferations. We describe the clinical, imaging, and pathologic observations of a CNS disorder histologically similar to posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disorder that occurred in...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Autoimmune disease has long been intertwined with investigations of infectious causes. Antibodies that are formed against an infectious agent can, through the process of molecular mimicry, also recognize healthy cells. When this occurs, the immune system erroneously destroys the healthy cells causing autoimmune disease in addition to appropriately destroying the offending infe...

Encephalitis is a brain inflammation, which could involve also the meninges. The etiology of encephalitis could be: viral, bacterial, fungal or autoimmune. Anti-NMDAR encephalitis is an immune disorder, easy to diagnose and is a treatable condition. Most patients with anti-NMDAR encephalitis develop a multistage illness that progresses from psychosis, memory deficits, seizures, to catatonic sta...

Steroid-responsive encephalopathy associated with autoimmune thyroiditis (SREAT), also known as Hashimoto encephalopathy, represents a rare disorder of presumed autoimmune origins that can be diagnosed when a protean variety of psychiatric symptoms are present in association with elevated titers of anti-thyroid antibodies. Symptoms can have a rapid and complete remission with corticosteroid tre...

Myopathy, which clinically shows muscular pain (myalgia), weakness, cramps, stiffness and spasm, is one of neuromuscular disorders due to inflammation and/or dysfunction of muscle fibers. “Myositis”, which is a general term for inflammation of the muscle, is pathologically an inflammatory myopathy seen seen mainly in autoimmune disorders including dermatomyositis (DM). The myopathy is classifie...

Multiple autoimmune syndrome (MAS) is a condition characterised by three or more autoimmune disorders in a same individual. Familial, immunologic and infectious factors are implicated in the development of MAS. Here we report a case of a 32-year-old woman with co-existence of four auto-immune diseases, namely autoimmune hypothyroidism, Sjögren's syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and ...