Association of Anti-GT1a Antibodies with an Outbreak of Guillain-Barré Syndrome and Analysis of Ganglioside Mimicry in an Associated Campylobacter jejuni Strain

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131730
• Publication Date: 2015-07-21T18:03:59Z
• Authors: Maojun Zhang; Michel Gilbert; Nobuhiro Yuki; Fangfang Cao; Jianjun Li; Hongying Liu; Qun Li; Fanliang Meng; Jianzhong Zhang
• Keywords: Lipopolysaccharides; Male; 0301 basic medicine; anti-ganglioside antibody; ganglioside GD3; Science; lipooligosaccharide; diarrhea; DNA sequence; phylogeny; Guillain-Barre Syndrome; glycosyltransferase; immunoglobulin M antibody; cgtA gene; Campylobacter jejuni; 03 medical and health sciences; Species Specificity; ganglioside GQ 1b; single nucleotide polymorphism; bacterial genome; Gangliosides; Campylobacter Infections; Humans; immunoglobulin G antibody; molecular mimicry; phylogenetic tree; ganglioside GM2; Phylogeny; antigenic drift; ganglioside GM1; Antigens, Bacterial; phylogenetic analysis; Q; Molecular Mimicry; antibody blood level; R; cst II gene; bacterial strain; Antibodies, Bacterial; 3. Good health; ganglioside GT 1a; cgtB gene; ganglioside antibody; Medicine; Female; ganglioside GD 1b; gastroenteritis; Research Article

An outbreak of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), subsequent to Campylobacter jejuni enteritis, occurred in China in 2007. Serum anti-ganglioside antibodies were measured in GBS patients and controls. Genome sequencing was used to determine the phylogenetic relationship among three C. jejuni strains from a patient with GBS (ICDCCJ07001), a patient with gastroenteritis (ICDCCJ07002) and a healthy carrier (ICDCCJ07004), which were all associated with the outbreak. The ganglioside-like structures of the lipo-oligosaccharides of these strains were determined by mass spectrometry. Seventeen (53%) of the GBS patients had anti-GT1a IgG antibodies. GT1a mimicry was found in the lipo-oligosaccharides of strain ICDCCJ07002 and ICDCCJ07004; but a combination of GM3/GD3 mimics was observed in ICDCCJ07001, although this patient had anti-GT1a IgG antibodies. A single-base deletion in a glycosyltransferase gene caused the absence of GT1a mimicry in ICDCCJ07001. The phylogenetic tree showed that ICDCCJ07002 and ICDCCJ07004 were genetically closer to each other than to ICDCCJ07001. C. jejuni, bearing a GT1a-like lipo-oligosaccharide, might have caused the GBS outbreak and the loss of GT1a mimicry may have helped ICDCCJ07001 to survive in the host.