Skip to main content
PMC home page
Infection and Immunity logoLink to Infection and Immunity
. 1994 May;62(5):2122–2125. doi: 10.1128/iai.62.5.2122-2125.1994

Lipopolysaccharides from Campylobacter jejuni associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome patients mimic human gangliosides in structure.

G O Aspinall 1, S Fujimoto 1, A G McDonald 1, H Pang 1, L A Kurjanczyk 1, J L Penner 1
PMCID: PMC186479  PMID: 8168981

Abstract

Lipopolysaccharides extracted from Campylobacter jejuni serostrains (serotype reference strains) for serotypes O:4 and O:19 were found to have core oligosaccharides with terminal structures resembling human gangliosides GM1 and GD1a. High-molecular-weight molecules that reflected the presence of O chains were shown in immunoblots to be immunologically specific for each serostrain. The O:19 antiserum also reacted strongly with core oligosaccharides of two isolates from patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), but the banding patterns and molecular structures were different from those of the O:19 serostrain. A neuraminobiose disaccharide unit is attached to the terminal Gal residue in one isolate, and the other isolate lacked terminal N-acetyl glucosamine and galactose with attached sialic acid so that the sialic acid residues were present in a neuraminobiose unit linked to the only remaining galactose. Analysis of the high-M(r) lipopolysaccharides of the O:19 serostrain and the two isolates from GBS patients revealed the presence of a hyaluronic acid-like polymer with disaccharide-repeating units consisting of beta-D-glucuronic acid amidated with 2-amino-2-deoxyglycerol and N-acetyl glucosamine. The results confirm a potential role for the core oligosaccharides in the etiology of GBS but also suggest that the O-chain polysaccharide may be a contributing factor.

Full text

PDF
2122

Images in this article

2123Image
on p.2123
2123Image
on p.2123

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Aspinall G. O., McDonald A. G., Pang H., Kurjanczyk L. A., Penner J. L. Lipopolysaccharides of Campylobacter jejuni serotype O:19: structures of core oligosaccharide regions from the serostrain and two bacterial isolates from patients with the Guillain-Barré syndrome. Biochemistry. 1994 Jan 11;33(1):241–249. doi: 10.1021/bi00167a032. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Aspinall G. O., McDonald A. G., Pang H. Lipopolysaccharides of Campylobacter jejuni serotype O:19: structures of O antigen chains from the serostrain and two bacterial isolates from patients with the Guillain-Barré syndrome. Biochemistry. 1994 Jan 11;33(1):250–255. doi: 10.1021/bi00167a033. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Aspinall G. O., McDonald A. G., Pang H. Structures of the O chains from lipopolysaccharides of Campylobacter jejuni serotypes O:23 and O:36. Carbohydr Res. 1992 Jul 2;231:13–30. doi: 10.1016/0008-6215(92)84003-b. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Aspinall G. O., McDonald A. G., Raju T. S., Pang H., Mills S. D., Kurjanczyk L. A., Penner J. L. Serological diversity and chemical structures of Campylobacter jejuni low-molecular-weight lipopolysaccharides. J Bacteriol. 1992 Feb;174(4):1324–1332. doi: 10.1128/jb.174.4.1324-1332.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Aspinall G. O., McDonald A. G., Raju T. S., Pang H., Moran A. P., Penner J. L. Chemical structures of the core regions of Campylobacter jejuni serotypes O:1, O:4, O:23, and O:36 lipopolysaccharides. Eur J Biochem. 1993 May 1;213(3):1017–1027. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1993.tb17849.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Fujimoto S., Yuki N., Itoh T., Amako K. Specific serotype of Campylobacter jejuni associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome. J Infect Dis. 1992 Jan;165(1):183–183. doi: 10.1093/infdis/165.1.183. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Kaldor J., Speed B. R. Guillain-Barré syndrome and Campylobacter jejuni: a serological study. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1984 Jun 23;288(6434):1867–1870. doi: 10.1136/bmj.288.6434.1867. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kuroki S., Haruta T., Yoshioka M., Kobayashi Y., Nukina M., Nakanishi H. Guillain-Barré syndrome associated with Campylobacter infection. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 1991 Feb;10(2):149–151. doi: 10.1097/00006454-199102000-00014. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kuroki S., Saida T., Nukina M., Haruta T., Yoshioka M., Kobayashi Y., Nakanishi H. Campylobacter jejuni strains from patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome belong mostly to Penner serogroup 19 and contain beta-N-acetylglucosamine residues. Ann Neurol. 1993 Mar;33(3):243–247. doi: 10.1002/ana.410330304. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Penner J. L., Hennessy J. N., Congi R. V. Serotyping of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli on the basis of thermostable antigens. Eur J Clin Microbiol. 1983 Aug;2(4):378–383. doi: 10.1007/BF02019474. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Preston M. A., Penner J. L. Structural and antigenic properties of lipopolysaccharides from serotype reference strains of Campylobacter jejuni. Infect Immun. 1987 Aug;55(8):1806–1812. doi: 10.1128/iai.55.8.1806-1812.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Rhodes K. M., Tattersfield A. E. Guillain-Barre syndrome associated with Campylobacter infection. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1982 Jul 17;285(6336):173–174. doi: 10.1136/bmj.285.6336.173. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Ropper A. H. The Guillain-Barré syndrome. N Engl J Med. 1992 Apr 23;326(17):1130–1136. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199204233261706. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Yuki N., Taki T., Inagaki F., Kasama T., Takahashi M., Saito K., Handa S., Miyatake T. A bacterium lipopolysaccharide that elicits Guillain-Barré syndrome has a GM1 ganglioside-like structure. J Exp Med. 1993 Nov 1;178(5):1771–1775. doi: 10.1084/jem.178.5.1771. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Infection and Immunity are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES