These data suggest that antibodies to GM1 and GD1a gangliosides may play a pathogenic role in the demyelinating and/or inflammatory processes characteristic of rabies vaccine-induced acute neurologic complications.

PMID: 

J Neuroimmunol. 1998 Nov 2 ;91(1-2):63-72. PMID: 9846820

Abstract Title: 

Antibodies to human myelin proteins and gangliosides in patients with acute neuroparalytic accidents induced by brain-derived rabies vaccine.

Abstract: 

Antibody responses to myelin antigens were analysed in 15 patients who developed acute neuroparalytic accidents (ANPA) during post-exposure rabies vaccination using a rabies vaccine prepared on brain tissues and in 30 individuals who were uneventfully vaccinated. High titers (>or = 100) of IgG and IgM antibodies to GM1 or GD1a gangliosides were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent-assay (ELISA) in plasmas from ANPA patients but not in controls. These data suggest that antibodies to GM1 and GD1a gangliosides may play a pathogenic role in the demyelinating and/or inflammatory processes characteristic of rabies vaccine-induced acute neurologic complications.

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