Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Serum anti-GM2 and anti-GalNAc-GD1a ganglioside IgG antibodies are biomarkers for immune-mediated polyneuropathies in cats.
- Journal:
- Journal of the peripheral nervous system : JPNS
- Year:
- 2023
- Authors:
- Halstead, Susan K et al.
- Affiliation:
- School of Infection and Immunity · United Kingdom
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
This study looked at certain antibodies in the blood of cats to see if they could help diagnose a condition called immune-mediated polyneuropathies (IPN), which affects the nerves. Researchers tested blood samples from 41 cats with IPN, 9 cats with other nerve or muscle issues, and 46 healthy cats. They found that 29 of the 41 cats with IPN had specific antibodies called anti-GM2 or anti-GalNAc-GD1a, which could help identify this condition. The study suggests that these antibodies could be useful markers for diagnosing IPN in cats, similar to findings in dogs and humans.
Abstract
Recent work identified anti-GM2 and anti-GalNAc-GD1a IgG ganglioside antibodies as biomarkers in dogs clinically diagnosed with acute canine polyradiculoneuritis, in turn considered a canine equivalent of Guillain-Barré syndrome. This study aims to investigate the serum prevalence of similar antibodies in cats clinically diagnosed with immune-mediated polyneuropathies. The sera from 41 cats clinically diagnosed with immune-mediated polyneuropathies (IPN), 9 cats with other neurological or neuromuscular disorders (ONM) and 46 neurologically normal cats (CTRL) were examined for the presence of IgG antibodies against glycolipids GM1, GM2, GD1a, GD1b, GalNAc-GD1a, GA1, SGPG, LM1, galactocerebroside and sulphatide. A total of 29/41 IPN-cats had either anti-GM2 or anti-GalNAc-GD1a IgG antibodies, with 24/29 cats having both. Direct comparison of anti-GM2 (sensitivity: 70.7%; specificity: 78.2%) and anti-GalNAc-GD1a (sensitivity: 70.7%; specificity: 70.9%) antibodies narrowly showed anti-GM2 IgG antibodies to be the better marker for identifying IPN-cats when compared to the combined ONM and CTRL groups (P = .049). Anti-GA1 and/or anti-sulphatide IgG antibodies were ubiquitously present across all sample groups, whereas antibodies against GM1, GD1a, GD1b, SGPG, LM1 and galactocerebroside were overall only rarely observed. Anti-GM2 and anti-GalNAc-GD1a IgG antibodies may serve as serum biomarkers for immune-mediated polyneuropathies in cats, as previously observed in dogs and humans.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36573790/