Ganglioside GM1 mimicry in Campylobacter strains from sporadic infections in the United States.
To determine whether GM1-like epitopes in Campylobacter species are specific to O serotypes associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) or whether they are frequent among random Campylobacter isolates causing enteritis, 275 random enteritis-associated isolates of Campylobacter jejuni were analyzed. To determine whether GM1-like epitopes in Campylobacter species are specific to O serotypes associated with Guillan-Barre syndrome (GBS) or whether they are frequent among random Campylobacter isolates causing enteritis, 275 enteritis-associated isolates, randomly collected in the United States, were analyzed using a cholera-toxin binding assay [corrected]. Overall, 26.2% of the isolates were positive for the GM1-like epitope. Of the 36 different O serotypes in the sample, 21 (58.3%) contained no strains positive for GM1, whereas in 6 serotypes (16.7%), >50% of isolates were positive for GM1. GBS-associated serotypes were more likely to contain strains positive for GM1 than were non-GBS-associated serotypes (37.8% vs. 15.1%, P=.0116). The results suggest that humans are frequently exposed to strains exhibiting GM1-like mimicry and, while certain serotypes may be more likely to possess GM1-like epitopes, the presence of GM1-like epitopes on Campylobacter strains does not itself trigger GBS.
Nachamkin
I
I
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4283, USA. nachamki@mail.med.upenn.edu
Ung
H
H
Moran
A P
AP
Yoo
D
D
Prendergast
M M
MM
Nicholson
M A
MA
Sheikh
K
K
Ho
T
T
Asbury
A K
AK
McKhann
G M
GM
Griffin
J W
JW
D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000382:microbiology*; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002772:Cholera Toxin / Q000378:metabolism; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018716:Molecular Mimicry; D011129:Polyradiculoneuropathy / Q000382:microbiology; D012703:Serotyping; D014481:United States
D000939:Epitopes; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside; D002772:Cholera Toxin