Experimental axonopathy induced by immunization with Campylobacter jejuni lipopolysaccharide from a patient with Guillain-Barre syndrome

New Zealand white rabbits were immunized with a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) extracted from a Campylobacter jejuni HS: 19 strain isolated from a GBS patient expressing GM1 and GD1a-like epitopes, Freund's adjuvant (group 1) and Freund's adjuvant plus keyhole lympet hemocyanin (KLH) (group II). Both groups showed high titers of anti-LPS and anti-GM1 and lower titers of anti-GD1b and anti-GD1a antibodies. Weakness and axonal degeneration in sciatic nerves was detected in 1/11 of group I and 6/7 of group II. This model replicates, at least in part, the pathogenetic process hypothesized in the human axonal GBS with antiganglioside antibodies post C jejuni infection and indicates that KLH plays an additional role in neuropathy induction. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.