Update of autoantibodies in neurologic disease.

Many neurologic disorders recently have been discovered to have an autoimmune basis with autoantibodies that are responsible for neurologic symptoms and progression of the disease. Diagnosis and treatment of these disorders are facilitated by detection and monitoring of several autoantibodies. Some tumors express protein antigens shared by neurons, and an antitumor immune response leads to autoimmune antineuronal reactions exemplified by "paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration." Other antibodies react with gangliosides present in many locations of the nervous system, leading to motor neuron damage and polyneuropathy. Phospholipid antibodies indirectly cause neurologic syndrome largely through thrombosis of cerebral vessels; other autoantibodies also have associations with specific neurologic symptoms.