CROSS-REACTIVE ANTIBODIES AGAINST GANGLIOSIDES AND CAMPYLOBACTER-JEJUNI LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDES IN PATIENTS WITH GUILLAIN-BARRE OR MILLER-FISHER-SYNDROME

Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from stool specimens of 3 patients w ith Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS) and 2 patients with Guillain-Barre sy ndrome (GBS). Anti-GQ1b antibodies in serum from all MFS patients cros s-reacted with sialidase-sensitive epitopes in the lipopolysaccharide fraction of C. jejuni from these 3 MFS patients. One GBS patient had a nti-GM1 antibodies that bound with lipopolysaccharide of C. jejuni fro m a control patient and from the other GBS patient without anti-GM1 an tibodies. This binding was inhibited by cholera toxin but not by pretr eatment with sialidase. The C. jejuni isolate from the GBS patient wit h serum anti-GM1 antibodies did not contain anti-GM1 antibody-binding epitopes. Our results strongly support the hypothesis that anti-GQ1b a ntibodies in MFS patients are induced during the antecedent C. jejuni infection. In GBS patients, mechanisms other than molecular mimicry ma y also be involved in the production of anti-GM1 antibodies.