title: Serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha in Guillain-Barré syndrome and its relation to plasma exchange.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To correlate the serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) concentrations before, during and following plasma exchange in patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). In this prospective study, 21 GBS patients were selected. Patients in clinical stages III to V were subjected to plasma exchange. The control group included equal numbers of age-matched patients with other neurological diseases and healthy voluntary blood donors. A sandwich ELISA method was applied to estimate serum TNFalpha concentrations in test and control groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twelve GBS patients had elevated serum TNFalpha levels that ranged between 74 and 182 pg/mL. All 12 GBS patients showed a steady decrease in the TNFalpha concentration following plasma exchange and also showed a positive correlation with neurological recovery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that serum TNFalpha concentrations are elevated in 57.1% of GBS patients and TNFalpha level decreases following plasma exchange.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical SciencesTechnology, Thiruvananthapuram-695 011, Kerala State, India.
authors.forename: Sheela
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reuben
authors.forename: Annamma
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mathai
authors.forename: Sumi M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Radhakrishnan