November 2020 Vol. 8 No.11

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Original Research Article

What is the Impact of the Antibody Response to Glycan Alpha-Gal in Guillain-Barré Syndrome Associated with SARS-CoV-2 Infection?

Ernesto Doncel-Pérez¹, MarinelaContreras², Cesar Gómez Hernando³, Eduardo Vargas Baquero¹, Javier Blanco García¹, Javier Rodríguez Gómez¹, Alberto Velayos Galán⁴, Alejandro Cabezas-Cruz⁵, Christian Gortázar⁶, José de la Fuente^6,7*

¹Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos, Servicio de Salud de Castilla La Mancha (SESCAM), Finca La Peraleda s/n, 45071 Toledo, Spain.
²Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Analysis, Interlab-UMU, Regional Campus of International Excellence Campus Mare Nostrum, University of Murcia, Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
³Hospital Virgen de la Salud, Avenida Barber 30, 45004 Toledo, Spain
⁴Servicio de Neurología, Hospital General La Mancha Centro, Avenida Constitución 3, 13600 Alcázar de San Juan, Spain.
⁵UMRBIPAR, INRAE, ANSES, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaired'Alfort, Université Paris-Est, Maisons-Alfort, 94700, France
⁶SaBio. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos IREC-CSIC-UCLM-JCCM, Ronda de Toledo s/n, 13005 Ciudad Real, Spain.
⁷Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA.

*Corresponding Author's E-mail: jose_delafuente@yahoo.com josedejesus.fuente@uclm.es
Phone: +34 926295450

Received: 08 November 2020  I  Accepted: 21 November 2020  I  Published: 30 November 2020  I  Article ID: MRJMMS-20-192
Copyright © 2020 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.
This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0.

Abstract

There are several reports of the onset of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) symptoms in COVID-19 patients. Previously, we reported that reduction in anti-α-Gal IgE, IgM and IgG antibody titers and alteration of anti-α-Gal antibody isotype composition correlated with COVID-19 severity. In this case study, we aimed to compare the anti-α-Gal antibody response in COVID-19 and GBS patients. The levels of anti-α-Gal IgE, IgM, IgG and IgA were measured by ELISA in the sera of GBS and COVID-19 patients. Patients diagnosed with GBS showed an increase in anti-α-Gal IgM when compared to healthy individuals and COVID-19 patients. The levels of anti-α-Gal IgA were significantly higher in COVID-19 patients. No significant differences were observed in the levels of IgE and IgG between GBS and COVID-19 patients. Profile of anti-α-Gal antibody isotypes revealed a higher representation of anti-α-Gal IgM and IgG among GBS and COVID-19 patients, respectively. Remarkably, anti-α-Gal IgM was also highly represented in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients suffering GBS. Despite the limited number of cases included in the study, we suggest that anti-α-Gal IgM and IgA responses are differentially regulated in GBS and COVID-19 patients, which could reflect the disparate etiologies of these diseases. A possible association between high anti-α-Gal IgA in GBS and COVID-19 severity is proposed.

Keywords: Alpha-Gal, Antibody, COVID-19, Guillain-Barré syndrome, SARS-CoV-2