Molecular mimicry between gangliosides and lipopolysaccharides of Campylobacter jejuni isolated from patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome and Miller Fisher syndrome.

Some patients developed Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) after being given bovine gangliosides. Patients with GBS subsequent to Campylobacter jejuni enteritis frequently have IgG antibody to GM1 ganglioside. Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS), a variant of GBS, is associated with IgG antibody to GQ1b ganglioside. The existence of molecular mimicry between GM1 and lipopolysaccharide of C. jejuni isolated from a GBS patient and that between GQ1b and C. jejuni lipopolysaccharides from patients with MFS are shown herein. The molecular mimicry between infectious agents and gangliosides may function in the production of anti-ganglioside antibodies and the development of GBS and MFS.