Memory B cells in Guillain-Barré syndrome

IgG autoantibodies against gangliosides show the highest titers at the disease onset of axonal Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), in which there are no IgM anti-ganglioside antibodies. We hypothesized that memory B cells take part in the development of producing IgG autoantibodies. In this study, we analyzed the memory B cells in patients with GBS using flow cytometry. There was significantly higher percentage of memory B cells in patients with GBS than the healthy controls. The Spearman correlation analysis demonstrated that increased percentage of memory B cells was positively correlated with the clinical severity of the patients with GBS. Our study provides the evidences that memory B cells may be involved in mechanism of GBS.