GUILLAIN-BARRE-AND-FISHERS-SYNDROMES SUBSEQUENT TO CAMPYLOBACTER-JEJUNI ENTERITIS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH HLA-B54 AND CW1 INDEPENDENT OF ANTIGANGLIOSIDE ANTIBODIES

The frequencies of human leukocyte antigens (HLA)-class I (A, B and Cw ) were determined serologically and those of HLA-class II (DRB1 and DQ B1) at the genomic level in 35 Japanese patients with Guillain-Barre s yndrome (GBS), 58 with Fisher's syndrome (FS), and 112 healthy control s. HLA-B54 and -Cw1 antigens were found in GBS and FS patients from wh om Campylobacter jejuni had been isolated more often than found in the healthy controls. No HLA types were related to GBS or FS as a whole, except for the B54 antigen which often was significant in the entire G BS group. This relation, however, may depend on the high population of C.jejuni-isolate patients in our GBS group. There were no relationshi ps between the frequencies of HLA types and the presence of serum IgG antibodies to GM1, GQ1b, GD1a, or GalNAc-GD1a. Our findings suggest th at HLA types are associated with the onset of GBS and FS after C. jeju ni enteritis and that the HLA types in distinct GBS and FS subgroups o f a single etiological origin need to be examined. (C) 1998 Elsevier S cience B.V. All rights reserved.