Maarten Titulaer

Maarten Titulaer

Department of Neurology, Erasmus University Medical Center

The overall aim of my research is to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of Autoimmune Encephalitis (AIE), and optimize treatment based on a combination of clinical characteristics and immunological profiles. My research has expanded to large, prospective cohort studies in epilepsy and dementia, characterizing autoimmune epilepsy and autoimmune dementia, and searching for new antibodies. We have optimized antibody assays, IgG-subclass determination (IgG1/IgG4),  identified specific HLA associations in AIE, and were involved in the first passive transfer experiments in AIE. We have developed a pipeline for proteomics, but also adopted single cell sequencing in both serum and CSF, also encompassing VDJ profiling.

5 recent publications related to B-cells and antibodies

  1. Munoz-Lopetegui A, de Bruijn MAAM, Bouhkrissi S, Bastiaansen AE, Nagtzaam MMP, Hulsenboom ESP, Boon AJW, Neuteboom RF, de Vries JM, Sillevis Smitt PAE, Schreurs MWJ, Titulaer MJ. Neurological syndromes related to anti-GAD65: Clinical and serological response to treatment. Neurology: Neuroimmunology and NeuroInflammation 2020, 7 (3), pp. e696
  2. Van Coevorden-Hameete MH, De Bruijn MAAM, De Graaff E, Bastiaansen AEM, Schreurs MWJ, Demmers JAA, Ramberger M, Hulsenboom ESP, Nagtzaam MMP, Boukhrissi S, Veldink JH, Verschuuren JJGM, Hoogenraad CC, Sillevis Smitt PAE, Titulaer MJ. The expanded clinical spectrum of anti-GABABR encephalitis and added value of KCTD16 autoantibodies Brain 2019, 142 (6), pp. 1631-1643.
  3. De Bruijn MAAM, Van Sonderen A, Van Coevorden-Hameete MH, Bastiaansen AEM, Schreurs MWJ, Rouhl RPW, Van Donselaar CA, Majoie MHJM, Neuteboom RF, Sillevis Smitt PAE, Thijs RD, Titulaer MJ. Evaluation of seizure treatment in anti-LGI1, anti-NMDAR, and anti-GABABR encephalitis. Neurology 2019, 92 (19), pp. E2185-E2196.
  4. Balu R, Mccracken L, Lancaster E, Graus F, Dalmau J, Titulaer MJ. A score that predicts 1-year functional status in patients with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis Neurology 2019, 92 (3), pp. E244-E252.
  5. van Sonderen A, Roelen DL, Stoop JA, Verdijk RM, Haasnoot GW, Thijs RD,Wirtz PW, Schreurs MWJ, Claas FHJ, Sillevis Smitt PAE, Titulaer MJ. Anti-LGI1 encephalitis is strongly related to HLA-DR7 and HLA-DRB4. Annals of Neurology 2017, 81 (2): 193-198.

Link to full publication list: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=titulaer+mj

Currently supervision PhD research of

  1. Marienke de Bruijn, Erasmus University: “Autoimmune encephalitis and epilepsy: treatment effects and outcome”
  2. Danielle Bastiaansen, Erasmus University: “ Autoimmune encephalitis: Recognition and treatment in the elderly patient”
  3. Sander Lipka, Leiden University: “Long-term outcome in the Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome”
  4. Yvette Crijnen, Erasmus University: “Immunotherapy and electrophysiology in autoimmune epilepsy“

Supervision of PhD awarded candidates (research related to B-cells and antibodies)

  1. Agnes van Sonderen, Erasmus University: “Autoimmune encephalitis: the clinical value of antibodies directed to extracellular antigens ”
  2. Marleen van Coevorden-Hameete, Utrecht University: “Antineuronal antibodies: molecular characterization and clinical implementation”
  3. Ece Erdag, post-doc: “Role of Immunoglobulin Subclasses in Disease Development of anti- LGI1 Encephalitis (RIDDLE)”

Member of work package 2 and 5.

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