The discovery could lead to the development of new therapies for a disease triggered by an attack on one of the key neurotransmitter receptors in the brain, the NMDA receptor. It also raises the potential for a blood test to detect a signal of the condition and enable earlier treatment with existing therapies.

The study from Oregon Health & Science University is published in Science Advances.

The condition may be best known by the bestselling autobiography and the 2016 motion picture, “Brain on Fire.” The condition is considered a rare disorder affecting about 1 in a million people annually, predominantly people in their 20s and 30s.

The condition is triggered by an autoimmune attack on the brain’s NMDA receptor, mediated in part by anti-NMDA receptor autoantibodies, and is characterized by intellectual changes, severe memory loss, seizures and even death.