Short communicationNeuronal surface antibodies in HIV-infected patients with isolated psychosis

•22 HIV + psychotic patients were negative for neuronal surface antibodies (NSA).•The only neuropsychiatric manifestation of HIV + patients was psychosis.•314 NSA-tested patients were retrospectively evaluated for HIV-positivity.•22% of NSA + vs 5% of NSA − patients with autoimmune encephalitis suspicion were HIV +.•HIV + patients with a wider spectrum of neurologic diseases should be tested for NSA.

Neuronal surface antibodies (NSA) involved in autoimmune encephalitis (AE) have been related to relapses in HVS encephalitis. Their role in non-encephalitic psychosis is controversial. We previously reported an HIV-infected patient, NSA-positive, only presenting psychosis. Therefore, we determined the NSA prevalence in a prospective cohort of 22 HIV-positive patients with psychosis and we analyzed the frequency of HIV infection among NSA tested patients due to AE suspicion. We found no NSA in the prospective cohort. In the retrospective analysis, 22% of NSA-positive versus 4.6% of negative patients were HIV-positive. Wider studies are required to clarify the relationship between NSA and HIV infection.

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