A Study Identifies Autoimmune Disease to be Linked with Testicular Cancer

Washington D.C. [USA]: According to the Scientists, an autoimmune disease looks to be linked with testicular cancer that affects men. Known to us as ‘testicular cancer-associated paraneoplastic encephalitis’, it is the reason behind any serious neurological symptoms found in men. They lose control of the limbs, speech and eye movements progressively.

The autoimmune disease starts with a testicular tumor, which seems to be the reason behind the immune system attacking the brain. Affected men find themselves undiagnosed or misdiagnosed often and relevant treatment is delayed.

In a study that was published in the ‘New England Journal of Medicine’, they have identified a remarkably unique and specific biomarker for the disease with the use of a technology variation of “programmable phage display”. Their refined version linked to this technology screens above 700,000 autoantibody targets simultaneously across all human proteins.

The researchers, with the use of this powerful tool, have evaluated cerebrospinal fluid from a 37-year-old guy who had testicular cancer history and symptoms of debilitating neurological, which included imbalance, vertigo, and slurred speech. According to the identification by the enhanced phage technology, autoantibodies target Kelch-like protein 11 (KLHL11), which can be found in the testes along with the brain parts.

Moreover, these results have been correlated and validated with more patient samples gotten from the Mayo Clinic. Apart from identifying the reason for this mysterious neurological disease, these results are pointing the way to the use of this protein biomarker as a test of diagnostic for men using the testicular cancer-associated paraneoplastic encephalitis.