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IDIBAPS researchers identified a new neurodegenerative disease related to sleep disorders

Discover how the brain, memory, or what tools works allow you to  identify behavioral disorders are some of the challenges facing the  neuroimmunology, a science that studies the inflammation and  mechanisms of inflammation of the central nervous system and its  involvement in diseases such as multiple sclerosis, autoimmune  encephalitis or paraneoplastic neurological diseases. Dr. Josep  Dalmau,  IDIBAPS ICREA researcher who leads the IDIBAPS  Autoimmunity against synaptic antigens Group, is an international  leader in the study of neurology  and psychiatry and in the past 7 years  has identified a total of 8  inflammatory brain diseases. The Lancet  Neurology published an article  last week with another of his  discoveries , a neurodegenerative disease  related to sleep disturbances  hitherto unknown. Dr. Francesc Graus,  leader of Clinical and experimental neuroimmunology IDIBAPS Group and head of the Neurology at Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, is the principal investigator of the recent publication, in which also participated Dr. Joan Santamaria, neurologist Unit Sleep disorders Clinic, among others. This study has also been possible thanks to the participation of the Neurological Tissue Bank Hospital Clínic -IDIBAPS Biobank.

After the study of brain tissue from two patients with symptoms such as sleep disorders REM and non-REM behavior, movement and breathing disorders (obstructive apnea), the researchers identified the presence of an antibody against a neuronal protein, IgLON5, responsible for the neurodegenerative process linked to the autoimmune process.

The results allow to diagnose disease was not known so far, and suggest the possibility of a future control inflammatory processes that control turn neurodegeneration in these patients.

Article Reference:

Lidia Sabater, Carles Gaig,  Ellen Gelpi, Luis Bataller, Jan Lewerenz, Estefanía Torres-Vega, Angeles Contreras, Bruno Giometto, Yaroslau Compta, Cristina Embid, Isabel Vilaseca, Alex Iranzo, Joan Santamaría, Josep Dalmau, Francesc Graus. A novel non-rapid-eye movement and rapid-eye-movement parasomnia with sleep breathing disorder associated with antibodies to IgLON5: a case series, characterisation of the antigen, and post-mortem study. The Lancet Neurology, Early Online Publication,3 April 2014. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(14)70051-1