Miller-Fisher syndrome associated with Campylobacter jejuni bearing lipopolysaccharide molecules that mimic human ganglioside GD3

S Salloway, LA Mermel, M Seamans… - Infection and …, 1996 - Am Soc Microbiol
S Salloway, LA Mermel, M Seamans, GO Aspinall, JE Nam Shin, LA Kurjanczyk, JL Penner
Infection and immunity, 1996Am Soc Microbiol
A Campylobacter jejuni strain of serotype O: 10 was isolated from a patient who had Miller-
Fisher syndrome. In its biochemical reactions and cellular morphology, the isolate was
characteristic of typical C. jejuni. Antibodies against extracted lipopolysaccharide (LPS)
were detected by passive hemagglutination in the acute-and convalescent-phase patient
sera. By sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting
with the O: 10 antiserum, it was demonstrated that the strain possessed both low-and high …
A Campylobacter jejuni strain of serotype O:10 was isolated from a patient who had Miller-Fisher syndrome. In its biochemical reactions and cellular morphology, the isolate was characteristic of typical C. jejuni. Antibodies against extracted lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were detected by passive hemagglutination in the acute- and convalescent-phase patient sera. By sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting with the O:10 antiserum, it was demonstrated that the strain possessed both low- and high-molecular-weight molecules. Chemical analysis of the LPS revealed that the core oligosaccharide has a terminal trisaccharide epitope consisting of two molecules of sialic acid linked to galactose, a structure reflecting the terminal region of human ganglioside GD3. As this trisaccharide is also present in LPS cores of serotype O:19 strains from patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome but not in cores of nonneuropathic C. jejuni, a possible role for the trisaccharide in the etiology of neuropathies is indicated, and a difference for distinguishing neuropathic strains from nonneuropathic strains may be the presence of a sialyltransferase required for the synthesis of this trisaccharide.
American Society for Microbiology