Is Campylobacter lipopolysaccharide bearing a GD3 epitope essential for the pathogenesis of Guillain-Barré syndrome?

The hypothesis has been proposed that the GD3 ganglioside-like lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is essential for and functions in the development of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS) subsequent to Campylobacter jejuni enteritis. Our study showed that patients with GBS or MFS who had previously suffered diarrhea had anti-GD3 antibodies less often than those who had not had diarrhea. Sera from patients who showed GBS or MFS with the serologic evidence of prior C. jejuni infection had anti-GD3 antibodies less frequently than sera from those without evidence of infection. Statistical analysis showed that anti-GD3 antibodies were less frequent in patients with GBS or MFS from whom C. jejuni had been isolated than were other antiganglioside antibodies, such as anti-GM1 antibodies. These results could not support the above hypothesis.