34 patients’ samples were not tested for the presence of any group II or anti-GAD Ab, while for the remaining patients at least one anti-GAD or group II Ab assay had been performed: 22 patients tested positive for anti-GAD (on line blot) or group II Ab (on cell-based assays), of whom two patients were diagnosed with a PNS (one anti-VGKC LE associated with a thymoma and one anti-GAD LE associated with lung adenoma; Table 2 and Additional file 2: Table S1). The gene discussed is GAD1; the disease is thymoma.