Ganglioside complex antibodies in an Indian cohort of Guillain-Barré syndrome.
BACKGROUND
Antibodies against ganglioside complexes (GSCs) are associated with various clinical features and subtypes of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS).


METHODS
One-hundred patients were evaluated for antibodies to GSCs formed by combination of GM1, GM2, GD1a, GD1b, GT1b, and GQ1b using manual enzyme linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA).


RESULTS
Twenty-six patients were GSC antibody-positive, most frequent being against GM1-containing GSC (76.9%). Gender distribution, mean age, symptom-duration, antecedent events, electrophysiological subtypes, requirement for mechanical ventilation, and median duration of hospital stay were comparable between the GSC antibody-positive and negative groups. There was no association between specific GSC antibody and electrophysiological subtypes or clinical variants. After controlling for false discovery rate (FDR) using the Benjamini-Hochberg method, the number of subjects who improved in overall disability sum score, modified Erasmus GBS outcome score, and neuropathy symptom score at discharge was significantly higher in the GSC antibody-positive group. Improvements in Medical Research Council sum scores and Hughes Disability Scale during the hospital stay between the GSC antibody-positive and negative groups were not significantly different after controlling for FDR.


CONCLUSIONS
The GSC antibody-positive group had better outcome at hospital discharge in some of the disability scores. Pathophysiological pathways among patients without GSC antibodies may be different and this requires further evaluation.
['Wahatule|Rahul|R|', 'Dutta|Debprasad|D|0000-0001-5698-3067', 'Debnath|Monojit|M|', 'Nagappa|Madhu|M|', 'Mahadevan|Anita|A|', 'Sinha|Sanjib|S|', 'Sundaravadivel|Pandarisamy|P|', 'Rao|Umamaheswara|U|', 'Periyavan|Sundar|S|', 'Binu|V S|VS|', 'Rao|Shivaji|S|', 'Taly|Arun B|AB|']
D000293:Adolescent D000328:Adult D001323:Autoantibodies D016022:Case-Control Studies D015331:Cohort Studies D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay D005260:Female D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside D005678:G(M2) Ganglioside D005732:Gangliosides D020275:Guillain-Barre Syndrome D006801:Humans D016756:Immunoglobulins, Intravenous D007155:Immunologic Factors D007194:India D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D010956:Plasmapheresis D012121:Respiration, Artificial D013997:Time Factors D016896:Treatment Outcome D055815:Young Adult
ganglioside complexes GBS mechanical ventilation overall disability sum score Hughes disability scale modified Erasmus outcome score