Background: Over the past decade increasing scientific progress in the field of autoantibody–mediated
neurological diseases was achieved. Movement disorders are a frequent and often prominent feature in such
diseases which are potentially treatable.
Main body: Antibody-mediated movement disorders encompass a large clinical spectrum of diverse neurologic
disorders occurring either in isolation or accompanying more complex autoimmune encephalopathic diseases.
Since autoimmune movement disorders can easily be misdiagnosed as neurodegenerative or metabolic conditions,
appropriate immunotherapy can be delayed or even missed. Recognition of typical clinical patterns is important to
reach the correct diagnosis.
Conclusion: There is a growing number of newly discovered antibodies which can cause movement disorders.
Several antibodies can cause distinctive phenotypes of movement disorders which are important to be aware of.
Early diagnosis is important because immunotherapy can result in major improvement.
In this review article we summarize the current knowledge of autoimmune movement disorders from a point of
view focused on clinical syndromes. We discuss associated clinical phenomenology and antineuronal antibodies
together with alternative etiologies with the aim of providing a diagnostic framework for clinicians considering
underlying autoimmunity in patients with movement disorders