Immunotherapies in autoimmune movement disorders and cerebellar ataxia

The spectrum of autoimmune movement disorders is very broad with regard to clinical presentations, associated antibodies, and underlying immunopathophysiology. Early and adequate immunotherapy is key in the management to achieve good outcomes, avoid deterioration, or even death. The rarity of these disorders, however, entails a lack of gold-standard treatment trials we could base our management decisions upon. Here, we summarize existing knowledge about the treatment of autoimmune movement disorders and cerebellar ataxias with neuronal antibodies. We start with a brief introduction of the basic paradigms of neuronal antibody-associated autoimmunity, and of the principles of immune therapy generally applied in antibody-related neurologic disorders, to then discuss in more detail the main movement disorders and cerebellar ataxia related-antibody syndromes and their treatment.