Immunological observations in Guillain-Barré syndrome.

The results of some immunological analyses in 12 patients with the acute Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) are presented. The mean cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of IgG and IgA were significantly increased. A longitudinal study of CSF IgG concentrations in 5 patients shows that the recovery period of the disease is not regularly accompanied by a decline of the IgG level. The finding of significantly reduced percentages of active T cells in the peripheral blood of patients with the acute GBS in comparison with the controls supports the view of the cellular immunity role in the pathogenesis of the disease. With the exception of HLA--B5 and HLA--B15, no other individual antigen was significantly more present in either the cases or controls.