MILLER-FISHER SYNDROME-ASSOCIATED WITH CAMPYLOBACTER-JEJUNI BEARING LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE MOLECULES THAT MIMIC HUMAN GANGLIOSIDE GD(3)

A Campylobacter jejuni strain of serotype O:10 was isolated from a pat ient who had Miller-Fisher syndrome. In its biochemical reactions and cellular morphology, the isolate was characteristic of typical C. jeju ni. Antibodies against extracted lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were detecte d by passive hemagglutination in the acute- and convalescent-phase pat ient sera. By sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresi s and immunoblotting with the O:10 antiserum, it was demonstrated that the strain possessed both low- and high-molecular-weight molecules. C hemical analysis of the LPS revealed that the core oligosaccharide has a terminal trisaccharide epitope consisting of two molecules of siali c acid linked to galactose, a structure reflecting the terminal region of human ganglioside GD(3). As this trisaccharide is also present in LPS cores of serotype O:19 strains from patients with Guillain-Barre s yndrome but not in cores of nonneuropathic C. jejuni, a possible role for the trisaccharide in the etiology of neuropathies is indicated, an d a difference for distinguishing neuropathic strains from nonneuropat hic strains may be the presence of a sialyltransferase required for th e synthesis of this trisaccharide.