Treatment of Guillain-Barré syndrome with anti-T cell monoclonal antibodies.

Three patients with acute Guillain-Barré syndrome were treated early in the course of the disease with OKT3, an anti-T-cell monoclonal antibody. Each patient developed acute lymphopenia with specific depletion of T3-positive lymphocytes. Two patients had continued progression of clinical deficits for eight and 14 days. This suggests that T lymphocytes may not be essential for progression of Guillain-Barré syndrome at this stage of the disease.