Increased seroreactivity in tic disorder patients to a 60 kDa protein band from a neuronal cell line

In tic disorders, increased seroreactivity against neuronal antigens has been demonstrated, without performing molecular characterization of antigens. Here, unselected patients with a tic disorder were compared with healthy controls, autistic disorder (AD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients. Seroreactivity against neuroblastoma cells was analyzed by Western blot. Anti-60 kDa binding occurred significantly more frequently in tic disorder patients (67.1%) than in AD (40.0%), OCD (40.0%) and healthy controls (41.9%). Sequence analysis of the 60 kDa protein band identified this as a ubiquitous heat shock protein. However, the involvement of other autoantigens with a molecular weight of 60 kDa cannot be excluded.