[Narcolepsy as an autoimmune disease]

Abstract

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder of central origin. Hypocretin deficiency is the essential feature of type 1 narcolepsy. The biological background of type 2 narcolepsy (without cataplexy) is less clear. Infections or other external factors are thought to function as triggers of narcolepsy. After the H1N1 vaccination campaign, the incidence of narcolepsy increased clearly in countries where a vaccine boosted with the AS03 adjuvant was used. According to the current view, the increase of narcolepsy in connection with the pandemic vaccine especially in children and adolescents was associated with the virus component of the vaccine, but the adjuvant may also have boosted the development of autoimmune response.