Guillain-Barré syndrome
| Location: | Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ School of Medicine, Department of Neuroimmunology and The Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, Guy’s Hospital, London. |
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| Amount: | £176,139 |
| Status: | Research completed |
| Start Date: | 18th March 2002 |
| Finish Date: | 6th February 2006 |
| Grantholder: | Professor Richard A C Hughes MD FRCP FMedSci, Professor Adrian C Hayday PhD, Professor Kenneth J Smith PhD and Dr Norman A Gregson PhD |
| Research worker: | Dr A White and Mr K Giannopoulos |
Guillain-Barré syndrome is the most common cause of acute neuromuscular paralysis, affecting 2000 patients each year in the United Kingdom, and leaving 20% of them dead or disabled. It is thought to be an ‘autoimmune’ disease, in which the body’s defence mechanisms erroneously attack its own tissues in this case the peripheral nerve sheaths. These researchers will further investigate their original finding that a protein covering the nerve (peripheral myelin protein 22) is the target of this autoimmune attack. Such an improvement in our understanding of the cause of Guillain-Barré syndrome should then help us design better treatment for patients.
