We describe by an in-house dot immunoassay, specific anti-
ganglioside and
sulfatide antibodies, by comparing the results from a large group of 134 infected French GBS patients and those from 172 noninfected French GBS and 142 control groups. A recent
infection was identified in 134/306 (43.8%) GBS patients: Campylobacter jejuni (24.6%) was the most common agent, followed by cytomegalovirus (12.4%), Mycoplasma pneumoniae (3.2%) and Epstein-Barr virus (1.3%). Anti-
ganglioside antibodies were detected in 97/306 (31.7%) of total GBS patients, 82/134 (61.2%) of GBS patients with a recent identified
infection and 15/172 (8.7%) of the patients without identified
infection. According to the specificities and
antibody classes, four specific
IgG antibody profiles were individualised against the two major GM1 and GD1a
gangliosides in motor axonal C. jejuni-associated GBS variants, against GQ1b and disialylated
gangliosides in
Miller Fisher syndrome and its variants. One specific
IgM profile against GM2 was found in 16/38 (42%) of severe sensory demyelinating CMV-associated GBS and in 8/17 (47%) of subjects with recent CMV
infection with no neurological disease.
IgG or
IgM antibodies to GM1 were found in 5/10 M. pneumoniae-infected patients.
IgM antibodies to GM1 were observed in the control groups, 15% of the 74 patients with
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, 19% of the 51 patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating
polyneuropathy, and 9% of the 21 healthy control subjects. The fine specificity of the four
IgG antibody profiles and the
IgM anti-GM2 profile is closely related to the nature of the preceding
infections and the pattern of clinical features.