ThomasKlockgether, Department of Neurology, University Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germanyklockgether@uni-bonn.de
Michael Abele
Submitted October 28, 2003
We appreciate Dr. Bushara and Dr. Hallett's comments. We agree that
their data and our data show a roughly equal prevalence of
antigliadin antibodies in hereditary and sporadic ataxia patients.
However, their study did not include a control group which makes a
meaningful interpretation of the data difficult. [2] Further studies of
larger cohorts of patients with genetically defined ataxias might clarify
existing discrepancies concerning the prevalence of antigliadin
antibodies, but will probably not contribute very much to the
understanding of these diseases.
We appreciate Dr. Bushara and Dr. Hallett's comments. We agree that their data and our data show a roughly equal prevalence of antigliadin antibodies in hereditary and sporadic ataxia patients. However, their study did not include a control group which makes a meaningful interpretation of the data difficult. [2] Further studies of larger cohorts of patients with genetically defined ataxias might clarify existing discrepancies concerning the prevalence of antigliadin antibodies, but will probably not contribute very much to the understanding of these diseases.