A new treatment with compliment inhibition improves motor function in Guillain- Barré syndrome: Japanese eculizumab trial for Guillain- Barré syndrome (JET-GBS)
Recent basic studies on the pathophysiology of Guillain- Barré syndrome (GBS) have shown that complement activation has a major role on peripheral nerve damage in GBS. Eculizumab (Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc) is a humanized monoclonal antibody against complement C5, and is approved to treat complement-mediated blood diseases. At the Peripheral Nerve Society Congress (8-12 July 2017, Sitges, Spain), Japanese GBS study group presented results of a randomized placebo-controlled phase 2 trial with eculizumab in patients with severe GBS (unable to walk). At 24 weeks, marked improvement in motor function was observed in patients treated with eculizumab; 74% of patients in the eculizumab group (n=23) regained ability to run, compared with 15% in the placebo group (N=11).
Satoshi Kuwabara
Department of Neurology, Chiba University Hospital, Chiba, Japan