Antinuclear antibodies in Frontotemporal Dementia: the tip's of autoimmunity iceberg?

I Cavazzana; A Alberici; E Bonomi; R Ottaviani; R Kumar; S Archetti; M Manes; M Cosseddu; E Buratti; A Padovani; A Tincani; F Franceschini; B Borroni

doi:10.1016/j.jneuroim.2018.10.006

Antinuclear antibodies in Frontotemporal Dementia: the tip's of autoimmunity iceberg?

J Neuroimmunol. 2018 Dec 15:325:61-63. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2018.10.006. Epub 2018 Oct 19.

Authors

I Cavazzana¹, A Alberici², E Bonomi³, R Ottaviani⁴, R Kumar¹, S Archetti⁵, M Manes³, M Cosseddu⁶, E Buratti⁷, A Padovani³, A Tincani⁸, F Franceschini⁸, B Borroni³

Affiliations

¹ Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Spedali Civili Hospital, Brescia, Italy.
² Neurology Unit, Centre for Neurodegenerative Disorders, Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy. Electronic address: antoalberici@yahoo.it.
³ Neurology Unit, Centre for Neurodegenerative Disorders, Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
⁴ Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
⁵ III Laboratory of Analyses, Spedali Civili Hospital, Brescia, Italy.
⁶ Neurology Unit, Spedali Civili Hospital, Brescia, Italy.
⁷ Department of Molecular Pathology, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Trieste, Italy.
⁸ Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Spedali Civili Hospital, Brescia, Italy; Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.

PMID: 30391902
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2018.10.006

Abstract

Recent studies suggest a role of the autoimmune system dysregulation in Frontotemporal dementia (FTD). In the present study, we performed a broad immunological screening in a large sample of sporadic FTD patients. We reported a significant increase of antinuclear autoantibodies (ANA) positivity in 100 FTD patients as compared to 100 healthy controls (HC) (60% vs. 13%, p < .001). In FTD, ANA-positive and ANA-negative patients did not differ for any clinical feature. These data extend and further confirm autoimmune dysregulation in FTD. However, it still remains to be clarified whether these antibodies have a potential pathogenic role or represent simply an epiphenomenon.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Antibodies, Antinuclear / blood*
Antibodies, Antinuclear / immunology*
Autoantibodies / blood
Autoantibodies / immunology
Autoimmunity / physiology*
Female
Frontotemporal Dementia / blood*
Frontotemporal Dementia / diagnosis
Frontotemporal Dementia / immunology*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged

Substances

Antibodies, Antinuclear
Autoantibodies