Molecular mimicry between Plasmodium sp and Guillain Barre Syndrome antigens. ​

Abstract

Introduction:
Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), an autoimmune disease linked to infections, stands out for being the most prevalent and severe acute paralytic neuropathy worldwide. The immune response, triggered by various microorganisms, can lead to total paralysis or severe dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system.
Aim:
This study aimed to analyze the molecular mimicry between Plasmodium spp. and autoantigens associated with GBS, identifying possible antigenic epitopes.
Methodology:
PSI-BLAST, PRALINE, EMBOSS, Protein Data Bank, Swiss Model server, ALPHAFOLD 2, Ellipro and Pymol 2.3 were used to search for homologies, perform alignments, obtain protein structures and predict epitopes.
Results:
17 autoantigens and 7 immunological targets of the peripheral nervous system were included, identifying 72 possible epitopes associated with GBS. From the proteome of Plasmodium spp. (298 proteins), only two showed similarity close to 30% with TRIM-21 and BACE1, generating 7 possible epitopes.
Conclusion:
No significant homologies were observed between the proteome of SGB and Plasmodium spp. The exploration of other mechanisms such as immune-mediated capillary damage, Epitope Spreading or bystander activation is suggested to explain the aforementioned association. These findings underscore the need to clarify the etiology of autoimmune diseases and the role of pathogens. The need for experimental studies to validate these results is emphasized.