Premium
A CASE CONTROL STUDY OF ANTI‐GANGLIOSIDE AND ANTI‐CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI ANTIBODIES IN GBS: CORRELATION WITH ANTECEDENT EVENTS AND WITH CLINICAL FEATURES
Author(s) -
Carpo M.,
Bersano A.,
Citterio A.,
Allaria S.,
Cosi V.,
Nappi G.,
Scarlato G.,
NobileOrazio E.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of the peripheral nervous system
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1529-8027
pISSN - 1085-9489
DOI - 10.1046/j.1529-8027.2000.00513-12.x
Subject(s) - antibody , guillain barre syndrome , campylobacter jejuni , immunology , ganglioside , medicine , upper respiratory tract infection , population , biology , bacteria , biochemistry , genetics , environmental health
Anti‐ganglioside antibodies have been reported frequently in Guillain‐Barré syndrome (GBS), where they were often associated with an antecedent Campylobacter Jejuni (CJ) infection. To determine whether this association is also present in an Italian population we implemented a case‐control study of GBS patients in Western Lombardia from 1996 to 1998. We collected sera from 47 GBS patients in the acute phase (39 of whom were redrawn after three weeks), 43 neurological controls (NC), and 41 non‐neurological controls (NNC). Sera were tested by ELISA for IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies to GM1, GD1a, GD1b, GM2, GQ1b, and to CJ. None of the anti‐ganglioside antibodies tested was significantly more frequent in GBS patients during the acute phase of the disease than in NC or NNC. All anti‐ganglioside antibodies tested were more frequent during recovery than in the acute phase, even if the difference was significant only for anti‐GQ1b IgG and IgM antibodies. The frequency of anti‐GQ1b IgG was also significantly higher in convalescent GBS than in NC and NNC sera. There was no correlation between the presence of anti‐ganglioside IgM antibodies in acute sera and IgG antibodies in convalescent sera. Anti‐CJ IgG antibodies were only found in two acute GBS patients and in one NC. Both CJ‐positive GBS patients had an antecedent diarrhea and one also had high anti‐GM1 IgG. An antecedent upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) but not diarrhea was significantly more frequent in GBS than in NC/NNC. URTI in GBS patients was not associated with a higher frequency of anti‐ganglioside antibodies than in NC/NNC. In conclusion, in this study anti‐ganglioside antibodies were not associated with GBS in the acute phase, but tended to increase during the course of the disease possibly suggesting a secondary immune response. This finding might reflect the low frequency of diarrhea and CJ infection in our GBS population, supporting the hypothesis of a regional variability in the etiopathogenetic mechanism of GBS.