title: Cross-reactive antibodies against gangliosides and Campylobacter jejuni lipopolysaccharides in patients with Guillain-Barré or Miller Fisher syndrome.
abstract: Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from stool specimens of 3 patients with Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS) and 2 patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). Anti-GQ1b antibodies in serum from all MFS patients cross-reacted with sialidase-sensitive epitopes in the lipopolysaccharide fraction of C. jejuni from these 3 MFS patients. One GBS patient had anti-GM1 antibodies that bound with lipopolysaccharide of C. jejuni from a control patient and from the other GBS patient without anti-GM1 antibodies. This binding was inhibited by cholera toxin but not by pretreatment with sialidase. The C. jejuni isolate from the GBS patient with serum anti-GM1 antibodies did not contain anti-GM1 antibody-binding epitopes. Our results strongly support the hypothesis that anti-GQ1b antibodies in MFS patients are induced during the antecedent C. jejuni infection. In GBS patients, mechanisms other than molecular mimicry may also be involved in the production of anti-GM1 antibodies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Erasmus University-University Hospital Dijkzigt, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Hazenberg
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: van Doorn
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Endtz
authors.forename: F G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: van der Meché
mesh_terms: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000276:immunology*; D002772:Cholera Toxin / Q000737:chemistry; D003429:Cross Reactions; D005732:Gangliosides / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000276:immunology*; D009439:Neuraminidase / Q000737:chemistry; D009443:Neuritis / Q000276:immunology*; D011129:Polyradiculoneuropathy / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D005732:Gangliosides; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D002772:Cholera Toxin; D009439:Neuraminidase