New feasible treatment for refractory autoimmune encephalitis: Low-dose interleukin-2

• Low-dose IL-2 improved mRS of AE patients at the last follow-up compared with the scale at the initiation of the treatment.
• Low-dose IL-2 showed an acceptable side-effect profile in treating AE.
• Low-dose IL-2 is a feasible and relatively safe treatment for AE refractory to the first- and second-line immunotherapies.

Low-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2) restores the balance of regulatory and effector T cells. We aimed to determine the feasibility of low-dose IL-2 as a treatment for refractory autoimmune encephalitis (AE). Ten patients who had received low-dose IL-2 were retrospectively identified. We observed an improvement in the modified Rankin Scale scores of six patients at the last follow-up compared with the scores at the initiation of low-dose IL-2 (p = 0.014). One patient experienced treatment-related grade 3 neutropenia. Overall, low-dose IL-2 is a feasible and relatively safe treatment for AE patients who are refractory to the first- and second-line immunotherapies.

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