Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is the commonest postinfectious autoimmune peripheral neuropathy of undiscerned etiology. Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) is the most widely reported antecedent infection in GBS is. In this case-control investigation, we assessed the contribution of C. jejuni in GBS and ganglioside autoantibody response in a tertiary care hospital in India. This case-control study was performed on 150 treatment-naive patients with GBS and 150 age and sex matched controls from the same community. IgM immunoreactivity for C. jejuni was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in sera of patients and control subjects. Autoantibody response was evaluated for single ganglioside targets GM1, GM2, GD1a, GD1b, GT1b, GQ1b as well as all possible heterodimeric complexes in patients’ sera. The immunoreactivity against C. jejuni was compared between demyelinating and axonal subtypes of GBS. C. jejuni infection was found in 48/150 (32%) of GBS patients compared to 4/150 (2.7%) of controls. This garners evidence of significantly higher immunoreactivity against C. jejuni (p<0.001, OR=17.170 CI=6.005-49.128) in the patient group compared to controls. However, the anti-C. jejuni immunoreactivity was not found to significantly differ between demyelinating and axonal subtypes of GBS (P=0.585, OR=0.79, CI=0.342-1.832). Further, C. jejuni-preceded patients demonstrated no association with any specific single ganglioside or ganglioside complex (GSC) autoantibodies. In this large case-control study, C. jejuni was observed to be an antecedent trigger of GBS and ascertaining a significantly higher prevalence among patients than controls.
Authors: Debprasad Dutta
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52843/cassyni.ffy8d3
Publish Year: 2021
