Frequency of anticardiolipin, antinuclear and anti β2GP1 antibodies is not increased in unselected epileptic patients:: a case-control study

In order to determine whether auto antibodies were restricted to some subtypes of epilepsy, we included 81 unselected epileptic patients and 81 controls, studied clinical data, EEG, neuroimaging, measured antinuclear (ANA), anticardiolipin (aCL) and beta2GP1 antibodies. Results: Epilepsy was active in 74 patients, generalised in 78 and partial in 9. Auto antibodies were positive at the same frequency and the same level among patients and controls (ANA+ 17% vs. 11%; aCL+ 4% vs. 7%; beta2GP1 antibodies+ 5% vs. 6%). There was no increased frequency of auto antibodies among subgroups of epileptic patients except ANA which were more frequent when patients had more than 10 seizures per year. Conclusions: Positivity of ANA, aCL and beta2GP1 antibodies is not increased in all types of epilepsy and further studies are needed to determine exactly which kind of seizure is immune-mediated. (C) 2003 BEA Trading Ltd. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.