Are antibasal ganglia antibodies important, and clinically useful?
In the last decade there has been controversy over the existence and clinical significance of autoantibodies that react with the basal ganglia, referred to as antibasal ganglia antibodies (ABGAs) (some investigators have referred to them as anti-neuronal antibodies). The spectrum of disorders associated with ABGAs has recently been widened to include several neuropsychiatric syndromes; in common is their association with recent streptococcal infection, which suggests that these syndromes are due to an aberrant immune response triggered by streptococcal infection. Like other emerging diseases it will take time to establish causation, if any, and for these disorders to be accepted as real disease entities. Because they may turn out to have a considerable clinical impact, they clearly need to be better understood, as does ABGA testing in clinical practice.
