Origin of ganglioside complex antibodies in Guillain-Barre syndrome

The origin of antibodies to ganglioside complexes, as new immunotargets for Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), is unknown. This was investigated in 21 GBS patients from which Campylobacterjejuni was isolated. Two of these patients had serum IgG to the GM I /GD I a complex and two other patients had IgG to the GQlb/GDla complex. These pairs of patients were clinically distinct. These antibodies all cross-reacted to lipo-oligosaccharides (LOS) from the autologous C jejuni strain. Previous mass spectrometry studies on these LOS showed the presence of oligosaccharides with a similar structure, further supporting the hypothesis that in these patients LOS induced the ganglioside complex antibodies. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.