Campylobacter jejuni/Campylobacter coli-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome. Immunoblot confirmation of the serological response.

Immunoblot (Western blot) examination of the sera of 45 patients with the Guillain-Barré syndrome demonstrated that between three and five immunoreactive bands that were characteristic of a recent Campylobacter jejuni/Campylobacter coli infection were present in 22 of these patients. The immunoblots paralleled the serological response that is found in campylobacter enteritis and confirmed the specificity of our previous enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), which indicates that antecedent C. jejuni/C. coli infection is common in patients with the Guillain-Barré syndrome. We postulate that, under certain circumstances, demyelination is initiated by the leakage of campylobacter-specific antibody across the blood-nerve barrier.