No association between IgG anti-GTla antibody and bulbar palsy in Guillain-Barré and Fisher's syndromes

Pharyngeal-cervical-brachial weakness (PCB) is a rare variant of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and shows a regional muscle weakness, specially in oropharynx. Mizoguchi et al. (1994) reported a GBS patient with PCB-like symptoms who had serum IgG anti-GTla antibodies in the acute phase of illness. We therefore assumed that bulbar palsy was associated with anti-GTla antibodies and made serological study in patients with GBS or Fisher's syndrome. The frequency of positive IgG anti-GTla antibody was significantly higher in patients with bulbar palsy than those without bulbar palsy. Most of the patients with IgG anti-GTla antibodies, however, had also anti-GQlb antibodies in their sera and anti-GTla antibodies were more closely associated with ophthalmoplegia than with bulbar palsy. These findings do not support that IgG anti-GTla antibodies play an important role in the pathogenesis of bulbar palsy in GBS.