Antibody pattern analysis in the Guillain–Barré syndrome and pathologic controls

The Guillain–Barré Syndrome (GBS) is an acute inflammatory polyneuroradiculopathy, which is considered to be caused by autoimmune processes. A number of single antigenic structures has been suggested to be targeted by the immune system, but a conclusive etiological concept has not been evolved yet. We compared reactions of sera from GBS patients ( N=28) and from both two pathological control groups, 25 Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and 32 patients with other non-inflammatory peripheral polyneuropathies (ONP) and from sex- and age-matched healthy controls ( N=30). Porcine peripheral nerve proteins were used as antigens in a Western blot procedure. The blots were analysed by densitometry, and a multivariate statistical comparison of the antibody repertoires was carried out. Antibody patterns of GBS patients differed significantly ( p