Problems of diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune encephalitis in children

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increase in the incidence of autoimmune encephalitis in the pediatric population, which is due not only to an actual increase in incidence but also to improved diagnostic methods. This article presents a review of the scientific literature on the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune encephalitis in children. An analysis of 54 domestic and foreign sources was conducted using the following databases: PubMed, eLibrary, Russian Science Citation Index for the last 10 years using the following keywords: “autoimmune encephalitis”, “children”, “NMDA receptors”, “paraneoplastic syndrome”, “antineuronal antibodies”, “targeted therapy”. The main criteria for the selection were scientific reliability and high relevance to the topic (sources containing up-to-date information on the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune encephalitis in children). In the process of literature analysis, epidemiological aspects and molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis, including antibody-mediated dysfunction of synaptic receptors, were considered, T-cell cytotoxicity and activation of the complement system, modern diagnostic algorithms and personalized approaches to therapy based on biomarker monitoring, possibilities of using targeted drugs in pediatric practice, taking into account genetic profiling to predict response to rituximab/tocilizumab.