No standard treatments for the sometimes deadly disorder have been developed, but that may change due to the newly published research.
OREGON, USA — Nearly two decades after first being identified, a rare and life-threatening brain-inflammation disease may soon have new treatment candidates.
The disorder, called anti-NMDA encephalitis, is diagnosed in around one out of every 1.5 million people each year and hasn’t had a standard treatment to help affected patients.
Disorder symptoms include intellectual changes, severe memory loss, seizures, and even death.
The disease became widely known through the bestselling autobiography “Brain on Fire,” which was later adapted into a Netflix movie.
A treatment for the disorder may soon emerge after researchers at Oregon Health & Science University discovered certain areas of neurotransmitter receptors in the brain that, if blocked, could reverse the disease’s progression. The discovery was made after postdoctoral fellow Junhoe Kim compared anti-NMDA receptor autoantibodies in mice to the same autoantibodies in humans affected by the disease.
The most effective treatments for the disorder have been a combination of medications that target the immune system in different ways, but health professionals still don’t know what the best medication combinations are, according to University of Utah Health researchers who have been leading a five-year clinical trial on the disease.Â
Current therapies involving suppressing the immune system don’t always work and may lead to patients relapsing, researchers said. The Food and Drug Administration also hasn’t officially approved any treatments for the condition.
The Oregon researchers’ discovery, however, may now clear the way for drug companies to develop therapeutics that could specifically target the binding sites causing the disease, study co-author Gary Westbrook said in an Oregon Health & Science University press release.