Neural autoantibodies and autoimmune encephalitis – the conjunction of both counts

The detection of immunoglobulin G autoantibodies against antigens on neural surfaces, like the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) [1] or leucine-rich glioma inactivated protein 1 (LGI1) [2, 3], has been said to be a milestone in modern neurology. In fact, the accomplishment was not the identification of novel antibodies but the detection of antibodies in conjunction with specific syndromes. These syndromes, i.e. complexes of typical clinical and paraclinical features with characteristic sex and age distributions, are now summarized as "autoimmune encephalitis".