Erschienen in:
01.10.2011 | Case Report
Anti-Ma2/Ta antibodies in a woman with primary lateral sclerosis-like phenotype and Sjögren syndrome
verfasst von:
Giovanni Piccolo, Eleonora Tavazzi, Sven Jarius, Enrico Alfonsi, Lorenzo Cavagna, Laura Piccolo, Elisabetta Zardini, Raymond Voltz, Diego Franciotta
Erschienen in:
Neurological Sciences
|
Ausgabe 5/2011
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Abstract
Anti-Ma2/Ta antibodies are rare paraneoplastic antibodies, which are mostly associated with limbic encephalitis in male patients with testicular cancer. We report on a 50-year-old woman with a pure progressive spastic paraparesis. Next, she was diagnosed as having a Sjögren syndrome, with serological positivity for anti-SS-Ro antibodies. The patient’s serum and cerebrospinal fluid samples were positive for anti-Ma2/Ta antibodies, which were also proved to be intrathecally produced. These findings, and the coexistence of systemic autoimmunity, led us to treat the patient with corticosteroids first, and then with plasma exchange. Neurological symptoms scarcely responded to both the therapies. The search for cancer was negative up to 4 years after the disease onset. Our case expands the spectrum of clinical syndromes associated with anti-Ma2/Ta antibodies.