Spontaneous downbeat nystagmus as a clue for the diagnosis of ataxia associated with anti-GAD antibodies

Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) is the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of glutamic add to the neurotransmitter gamma-amino butyric acid. Antibodies against GAD (anti-GAD-Ab) are associated with an array of autoimmune-related neurological conditions, such as stiff-person syndrome, cerebellar ataxia, epilepsy and limbic encephalitis. The clinical spectrum of ataxia associated with anti-GAD-Ab comprises slowly progressive cerebellar ataxia syndrome evolving in months or years, associated with cerebellar atrophy on brain MRI. There are few reports of patients with ataxia associated with anti-GAD-Ab presenting with abnormal ocular movements, such as downbeat nystagmus (DBN). We present two patients with ataxia associated with anti-GAD-Ab from a large series of ataxic subjects who presented with cerebellar ataxia combined with spontaneous DBN. All patients underwent a thorough neurological evaluation with the use of ataxia scales, brain MRI scans, cerebrospinal fluid examination,(18)FDG-PET/CT scans, laboratory work-up with onconeural and immune encephalitis antibodies, serum and cerebrospinal fluid levels of anti-GAD-Ab, and the antibody specificity index to measure the intrathecal synthesis of anti-GAD-Ab. All patients were treated with cycles of intravenous immunoglobulin and had mild/partial ataxia improvement and no improvement of DBN. The finding of DBN may work as a diagnostic clue in the context of adult-onset non-hereditary ataxias. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.