Antibody Testing in Peripheral Neuropathies

There is a definite role for autoantibody testing in the evaluation of PN. The use and interpretation of antibody results always should depend on the clinical and electrophysiologic presentation of a patient. The presence of autoantibodies provides evidence of autoimmunity that may contribute to the pathophysiology of neuropathy. Some antibodies have clear significance in terms of guiding diagnosis (eg, paraneoplastic antibodies) or prognosis and treatment (eg, GM1 antibodies). Most of the autoantibodies, however, do not define a specific clinical syndrome and do not have a proved direct pathogenic role.