Department of Neurology, Manchester Centre for Clinical Neurosciences, Salford Royal Hospital, United Kingdom
Review Article
A review of the risk factors, pathophysiology, diagnosis and
treatment of narcolepsy
Author(s): Steven Jervis*, Anthony Payton, Arpana Verma, Marcus Lowe, Rachel Thomasson and Kay Poulton
Narcolepsy is hypothesized to be an autoimmune disease targeting
the hypocretin/orexin producing neurons within the hypothalamus
and is categorised into subsets based on the symptoms presented.
Epidemiological studies have proposed that there is an additional
requirement for an environmental trigger combined with potential
genetic predisposition to trigger the onset of this spectrum of disorders.
Despite epidemiological evidence which suggests the condition arises
due to a breach of immunological tolerance, the absence of a defined
autoantigen remains an element of debate in the aetiology of the
disorder. Currently there are no definitive diagnostically useful genetic
variants observed in narcolepsy suffers which could be exploited at
disease onset to support its diagnosis or clinical management
The most impactful genetic risk factor.. View More»
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