T-cell recognition of acetylcholine receptor provides a reliable means for monitoring autoimmunity to acetylcholine receptor in antibody-negative myasthenia gravis patients.
Autoimmunity
; 45(2): 153-60, 2012 Mar.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21985279
ABSTRACT
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease usually associated with autoantibodies (auto-Abs) against nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR). Some MG patients appear negative for anti-AChR Abs (seronegative), and a fraction of these have auto-Abs against muscle-specific kinase. The remaining patients, although displaying MG symptoms, show no detectable auto-Abs. We describe here a possible association of a rare human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ type and AChR Ab-negative MG. We also found that the majority of seronegative patients exhibit an anti-AChR autoimmune T lymphocyte response. We investigated the existence of AChR-reactive T cells in peripheral blood lymphocytes from seronegative patients by their proliferative responses against a mixture of 18 overlapping synthetic peptides encompassing the extracellular part of human AChR α-chain. Of the 10 samples, eight exhibited positive T-cell proliferative responses against the peptide mixtures. The proliferative assay was equally efficient using a mixture of eight peptides frequently recognized by MG T cells. This T-cell proliferative assay should provide a reliable method for monitoring seronegative MG patients.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Autoanticorpos
/
Linfócitos T
/
Autoimunidade
/
Receptores Colinérgicos
/
Miastenia Gravis
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
Limite:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Autoimmunity
Assunto da revista:
ALERGIA E IMUNOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2012
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos