Antibodies Against GM1 in Demented Patients

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of anti-GM1 in demented patients, correlating them with the type and severity of dementia as well as with the eventually coexistent polyneuropathy. Anti-GM1 concentrations were measured in the sera of 33 demented patients with a male-to-female ratio of 1:2.7 (the mean age was 69.7 years for males and 70.1 years for females). Eighty-two percent of the patients revealed increased values of anti-GM1, but only 18.2% demonstrated polyneuropathies. Fifty-nine percent of the patients suffered from vascular dementia. The most severely demented patients demonstrated a Mini-Mental State Examination score of 5 to 23 out of 30 and revealed the most increased levels of anti-GM1 (>40 EU/mL). The findings of this study are indicative of a possible correlation between the levels of anti-GM1 and the severity of dementia, mainly of the vascular type.

High Levels of Anti-Ganglioside Antibodies in Patients with Parkinson?s Disease Associated with Cognitive Decline

“…However, in our study bradykinetic patients showed increased anti-GM1 IgM compared to tremordominant patients (p=0.0005). Further studies demonstrated an increase of anti-GM1 IgM levels in patients with multi-infarct dementia and patients with Parkinson's disease plus dementia but not in non-demented patients with other degenerative disorders [53,55,56]. In our present research anti-GM1 concentrations were also correlated to cognitive decline.…”

High prevalence of NMDA receptor IgA/IgM antibodies in different dementia types

“…Contribution of autoantibodies to neurodegeneration has been suspected for a long time and correlations of increased antibody titers with dementia have been shown for very diverse autoantibodies ranging from anti-GM1,17 anti-adrenergic receptors,18 to antibodies against tau protein, neurofilaments,19 β -amyloid,20 GFAP21, or neurotransmitters 22. However, selection of dementia patients that could potentially benefit from immunotherapy is challenging, mainly because of limited understanding of the pathogenic role of individual antibodies and the lack of systematic data showing clinical improvement of autoantibody-positive dementia patients with immunotherapy.…”

Antibodies Against Gangliosides in Patients With Dementia

“…In addition, they mentioned high levels of anti-GM1 in the sera of patients with multi-infarct dementia and patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with dementia but not in nondemented patients with other degenerative disorders. [26][27][28] The detection of anti-GM1 IgM in higher levels compared to the levels of anti-GD1b IgM and anti-GQ1b IgM may indicate the different binding affinity of Ab-peptide to the 3 examined gangliosides. According to other researches, Ab peptide (1-42) binds tightly to GM1, compared to the lower binding affinity for GD1b and GQ1b.…”