Anti asialo GM1 antibody detected in the patients' sera from systemic lupus erythematosus and Behçet's diseases with neurological manifestations.

A high incidence of antibody to asialo GM1 was observed in the sera from the patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and Behçet's disease with neurological manifestations, using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), and Thin-layer Chromatography (TLC) immunostaining. The sera from 60 out of 102 cases of SLE with neurological disorders and 6 out of 10 patients with neuro Behçet's disease showed antibody activity against asialo GM1 but not against the asialo GM2, GM1 and galactocerebroside. In 7 out of 123 cases SLE having a history without neurological manifestations and 1 out of 19 Behçet's patients without neurological disorders, antiasialo GM1 antibody could be detectable. However, sera from the patients with other autoimmune diseases, such as RA (60 cases) and P S S (32 cases) or from normal subjects did not show any antibody activity against asialo GM1. Antiasialo GM1 antibody activity presents in both IgM and IgG immunoglobulin classes by class specific ELISA and TLC immunostaining. These studies suggest that detection of antiasialo GM1 antibody may be useful in clinical diagnosis and these autoantibody plays a important role in the pathogenesis of neurological manifestations accompanying SLE and Neuro-Behçet's disease.