title: Ganglioside GM1 mimicry in Campylobacter strains from sporadic infections in the United States.
abstract: 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.
authors: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4283, USA. nachamki@mail.med.upenn.edu
authors: I
authors: I
authors: Nachamkin
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Ung
authors: A P
authors: AP
authors: Moran
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Yoo
authors: M M
authors: MM
authors: Prendergast
authors: M A
authors: MA
authors: Nicholson
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Sheikh
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Ho
authors: A K
authors: AK
authors: Asbury
authors: G M
authors: GM
authors: McKhann
authors: J W
authors: JW
authors: Griffin
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside; D002772:Cholera Toxin