HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Data Supplement Correspondence: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Correspondence are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Geleijns, K. Articles by van Doorn, P. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Geleijns, K. Articles by van Doorn, P. A. Related Collections Guillain-Barre syndrome Association studies in genetics

HLA class II alleles are not a general susceptibility factor in Guillain–Barré syndrome

From the Departments of Neurology (Drs. Geleijns, Jacobs, van Koningsveld, and van Doorn) and Immunology (Drs. Geleijns, Jacobs, and Laman), Erasmus Medical Center, and Laboratory for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (Dr. Sintnicolaas), Sanquin Bloodbank South West Region, Rotterdam, Department of Immunohaematology and Blood Transfusion (Dr. Schreuder), Leiden University Medical Center, and Department of Clinical Neurophysiology (Dr. Meulstee), Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. K. Geleijns, Department of Neurology, Erasmus Medical Center, PO Box 1738, Rm. Ee 2230, 3000 DR Rotterdam, the Netherlands; e-mail: c.geleijns{at}erasmusmc.nl

Objective: To assess whether human leukocyte antigen (HLA)–DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 alleles confer susceptibility to Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) or are related to specific clinical or serologic subgroups of GBS.

Methods: The HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 loci were genotyped by PCR amplification with sequence-specific primers in 164 well-documented Dutch patients with GBS and 207 healthy Dutch control subjects. Patients with GBS were divided into subgroups based on clinical features, severity of disease, antecedent infection, and anti-ganglioside antibodies. Data were compared with those of all case-control HLA studies in GBS performed previously.

Results: In this case-control study, HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 alleles did not differ between GBS patients and control subjects. The frequency of HLA-DRB1*01 was increased in patients who needed mechanical ventilation (odds ratio 4.2; 95% CI 1.9 to 9.6; p_c = 0.02). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that this association was independent of the severity of paresis and the presence of cranial nerve involvement (all p < 0.05). There was a tendency toward an association between certain HLA alleles and several anti-ganglioside antibodies.

Conclusions: Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II antigens are not a general susceptibility factor in Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). However, HLA class II alleles may be a determinant in distinct subgroups of GBS, indicating the need for further exploration in large-scale studies.

Received June 7, 2004. Accepted in final form September 21, 2004.

Additional material related to this article can be found on the Neurology Web site. Go to www.neurology.org and scroll down the Table of Contents for the January 11 issue to find the title link for this article.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. Janssen, K. A. Krogfelt, S. A. Cawthraw, W. van Pelt, J. A. Wagenaar, and R. J. Owen Host-Pathogen Interactions in Campylobacter Infections: the Host Perspective Clin. Microbiol. Rev., July 1, 2008; 21(3): 505 - 518. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. K. Yu, S. Usuki, and T. Ariga Ganglioside Molecular Mimicry and Its Pathological Roles in Guillain-Barre Syndrome and Related Diseases Infect. Immun., December 1, 2006; 74(12): 6517 - 6527. [Full Text] [PDF]