Epidemiology and cellular immunology of autoimmune encephalitides

Autoimmune encephalitides (AEs) are a group of recently identified disorders that can present with symptoms such as psychosis, epilepsy ataxia and/or dementia. AEs are often reversible upon correct treatment, distinguishing them from the syndromes that they mimick.

With this application, I intend to address a set of outstanding epidemiological and immunopathological questions about AE.

The specific aims are to determine 1) the prevalence of AE among patients with catatonia cared for within the legal framework of “Lagen om Psykiatrisk Tvångsvård” 2) the role of the n-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDA-R) in modulating immune responses and its role in encephalitis development. 3) clonal relationships of infiltrating immune cells in the human brain, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), lymph nodes and blood, to elucidate the steady-state brain immunology underpinning all AE immunopathology 4) antigen-specific CD8 T cell function in the context of glutamate decarboxylase 65 (GAD65)-autoantibody associated neurological syndromes.As a clinician-scientist with extensive clinical networks in Sweden and abroad and a profound biological, experimental and bioinformatical track-record in the field, I am uniquely positioned to address these translational questions.

My long-term goal is to identify and treat all patients suffering from AE in Sweden.