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An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Objective To identify neuronal surface antibodies in opsoclonus myoclonus ataxia syndrome (OMAS) using contemporary antigen discovery methodology. Methods OMAS patient serum immunoglobulin G immunohistochemistry using age-equivalent rat cerebellar tissue was followed by immunoprecipitation, gel electrophoresis, and mass spectrometry. Data are available via ProteomeXchange (identifier PXD009578). This generated a list of potential neuronal surface cerebellar autoantigens. Live cell-based assays were used to confirm membrane-surface antigens and adsorb antigen-specific immunoglobulin Gs. The serologic results were compared to the clinical data. Results Four of the 6 OMAS sera tested bound rat cerebellar sections. Two of these sera with similar immunoreactivities were used in immunoprecipitation experiments using cerebellum from postnatal rat pups (P18). Mass spectrometry identified 12 cell-surface proteins, of which glutamate receptor δ2 (GluD2), a predominately cerebellar-expressed protein, was found at a 3-fold-higher concentration than the other 11 proteins. Antibodies to GluD2 were identified in 14/16 (87%) OMAS samples, compared with 5/139 (5%) pediatric and 1/38 (2.6%) adult serum controls (p < 0.0001), and in 2/4 sera from patients with neuroblastoma without neurologic features. Adsorption of positive OMAS sera against GluD2-transfected cells substantially reduced but did not eliminate reactivity toward cerebellar sections. Conclusion Autoantibodies to GluD2 are common in patients with OMAS, bind to surface determinants, and are potentially pathogenic.

Objectives Autoantibodies against the extracellular domains of the voltage-gated potassium channel (VGKC) complex proteins, leucine-rich glioma-inactivated 1 (LGI1) and contactin-associated protein-2 (CASPR2), are found in patients with limbic encephalitis, faciobrachial dystonic seizures, Morvan’s syndrome and neuromyotonia. However, in routine testing, VGKC-complex-antibodies without LGI1- or CASPR2-reactivities (“double-negative”) are commoner than LGI1- or CASPR2-specificities. Therefore, the target(s) and clinical associations of double-negative antibodies need to be determined. Methods Sera (n=1131) from several clinically-defined cohorts were tested for IgG-radioimmunoprecipitation of 125I-DTX-labelled VGKC-complexes from mammalian brain extracts. Positive samples were systematically tested for live hippocampal neuron reactivity, IgG-precipitation of 125I-DTX and 125I-DTX-labelled Kv1-subunits, and by cell-based assays which expressed Kv1-subunits, LGI1 and CASPR2. Results VGKC-complex-antibodies were found in 162 of 1131 (14%) sera. Ninety of these (56%) had antibodies targeting the extracellular domains of LGI1 or CASPR2. Of the remaining 72 double-negative sera, ten (14%) immunoprecipitated 125I-DTX itself, and 27 (38%) bound to solubilized co-expressed Kv1.1/1.2/1.6 subunits and/or Kv1.2 subunits alone, at levels proportionate to VGKC-complex-antibody levels (r=0.57, p=0.0017). The sera with LGI1- and CASPR2-antibodies immunoprecipitated neither preparation. None of the 27 Kv1-precipitating samples bound live hippocampal neurons or Kv1-extracellular domains, but 16 (59%) bound to permeabilised Kv1-expressing HEK cells. These intracellular Kv1-antibodies mainly associated with non-immune disease aetiologies, poor longitudinal clinical-serological correlations, and a limited immunotherapy-response. Conclusions Double-negative VGKC-complex-antibodies are often directed against cytosolic epitopes of Kv1-subunits, and occasionally against non-mammalian DTX. These antibodies should no longer be classified as neuronal-surface antibodies. They consequently lack pathogenic potential, and do not in themselves support use of immunotherapies.