Guillain-Barre syndrome, familial

Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is an acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy characterized most commonly by symmetric limb weakness and loss of tendon reflexes. It is a putative autoimmune disorder presenting after an infectious illness, most commonly Campylobacter jejuni, a gram-negative bacterium that causes acute enteritis (Yuki and Tsujino, 1995; Koga et al., 2005). Approximately 1 in 1,000 individuals develops GBS after C. jejuni infection (Nachamkin, 2001). Although rare familial cases have been reported, GBS is considered to be a complex multifactorial disorder with both genetic and environmental factors rather than a disorder following simple mendelian inheritance (Geleijns et al., 2004). [from OMIM]