Antibodies to glycolipids in demyelinating diseases of the human peripheral nervous system.

Antibodies to complex glycolipids occur in patients with a variety of diseases of the peripheral nervous system. Many patients with demyelinating neuropathy occurring in association with IgM paraproteinemia have a monoclonal antibody that reacts with a carbohydrate determinant shared between sulfate-3-glucuronyl paragloboside (SGPG), the myelin-associated glycoprotein and other glycoproteins of peripheral nerve. Other patients with neuropathy in association with IgM paraproteinemia have monoclonal antibodies reacting with carbohydrate determinants on various gangliosides. More than 80% of the IgM monoclonal antibodies from patients of this type that have been screened in our laboratory react with SGPG or ganglioside antigens. High levels of antibodies reacting with ganglioside antigens are also found in some patients with inflammatory neuropathies such as Guillain-Barré Syndrome and chronic relapsing inflammatory polyneuropathy. The pathogenetic significance of these antibodies reacting with acidic sphingoglycolipids remains to be established.