ATG5 and Guillain-Barre syndrome: We next assessed the status of autophagy in the PBMCs of GBS patients by examining the expression of autophagy genes, the protein levels of pro-autophagic regulators beclin-1 and ATG5, the conversion of LC3-I (a mammalian homolog of ATG8) to autophagosome associated LC3-II, and autophagy-selective degradation of cargo receptors SQSTM1 and NBR1.