Autoantibody Testing of Autoimmune Neuromuscular Junction, Hyperexcitability, and Muscle Disorders

Serological evaluation for neuromuscular disorders expands commensurate with understanding of their autoimmune etiology. In myasthenia gravis (MG) and Lambert-Eaton syndrome (LES) and stiff person syndrome (SPS), there is a clear link between an autoantibody and disease pathogenesis, while the association of autoantibodies and inflammatory myopathies is less clear. Despite the uncertainty of the pathogenic role of autoantibodies in certain disorders, their detection may be useful in diagnosis and prognosis. This chapter reviews use of serological evaluation in diagnosis of neuromuscular junction disorders, hyperexcitability syndromes, and inflammatory muscle diseases.