Anti-ganglioside Antibodies in Guillain-Barre Syndrome: A Novel Immunoblotting-Panel Assay

This study aimed to determine the diagnostic efficiency of a novel immunoblotting detection assay for anti-ganglioside antibodies (AGAs) in the Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). Serum immunoglobulin (IgG and IgM) of AGAs were measured in 121 participants from a registered cohort study of immune-mediated neuropathies and 29 healthy controls by immunoblotting panel assay. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (PPV) of the assay were compared to calculate the diagnostic accuracy. In our cohort, any of the AGAs were positive in 42.4% of the GBS patients. The sensitivity and specificity of AGAs (both IgG and IgM) in the diagnosis of GSB were 42 and 76% while for IgG-AGAs were 35 and 87%. AGAs positivity had a significant association with the AMAN subtype ( = 0.0004), and the sensitivity, specificity of AGAs in AMAN were 86, 69%, respectively with high (AUC = 0.78, = 0.002) discriminative powers. GM1-IgG AGA was more common and specific to AMAN patients than other GBS forms ( = 0.008). Our novel immunoblotting detection assay could complement GBS diagnosis. IgG-AGAs were more likely to be detected in GBS, and GM1-IgG AGA could assist AMAN diagnosis.