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

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. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • The autoimmune system dysregulation might have a role in the pathogenesis of Frontotemporal dementia (FTD). • Sporadic FTD patients have a significant increase of Antinuclear autoantibodies (ANA) positivity as compared to healthy controls (HC). • None of the FTD patients have systemic symptoms of autoimmune disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]