Newly-diagnosed pediatric epilepsy is associated with elevated autoantibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase but not cardiolipin

Glutamic acid decarboxylase autoantibodies (GADA) and anti-cardiolipin autoantibodies (ACA) have been detected in adult subjects with epilepsy, though the functional implications of these findings are a matter of debate. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of GADA and ACA and to investigate their clinical significance in pediatric subjects with newly-diagnosed epilepsy. For this purpose GADA and ACA were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays in 208 pediatric patients with newly-diagnosed epilepsy and 128 controls. The clinical data (results of electroencephalography, magnetic resonance imaging, 6-month outcome etc.) was compared to antibody test results. Our study revealed GADA in 14 (6.7%) patients with epilepsy and in 1 (0.8%) control, which was a statistically significant difference (P = 0.010; Chi-square test). The GADA-positive and -negative patients had similar clinical characteristics. The prevalence of ACA in patients with epilepsy (6.3%) was not significantly different than controls (2.6%). These results suggest that GADA is associated with epilepsy in a subgroup of newly-diagnosed pediatric patients. Further studies are required to determine the prognostic significance and pathogenic role of GADA among pediatric subjects with epilepsy.