Publication

Abstract : BACKGROUND– To correlate the serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) concentrations before, during and following plasma exchange in patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). In this prospective study, 21 GBS patients were selected. Patients in clinical stages III to V were subjected to plasma exchange. The control group included equal numbers of age-matched patients with other neurological diseases and healthy voluntary blood donors. A sandwich ELISA method was applied to estimate serum TNFα concentrations in test and control groups. REVIEW SUMMARY– Twelve GBS patients had elevated serum TNFα levels that ranged between 74 and 182 pg/mL. All 12 GBS patients showed a steady decrease in the TNFα concentration following plasma exchange and also showed a positive correlation with neurological recovery. CONCLUSIONS– We conclude that serum TNFα concentrations are elevated in 57.1% of GBS patients and TNFα level decreases following plasma exchange.