Reduced plasmablast frequency is associated with seronegative myasthenia gravis.
Muscle Nerve
; 63(4): 577-585, 2021 04.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33294984
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The immunopathology of autoimmune seronegative myasthenia gravis (SN MG) is poorly understood. Our objective was to determine immune profiles associated with a diagnosis of SN MG.METHODS:
We performed high-dimensional flow cytometry on blood samples from SN MG patients (N = 68), healthy controls (N = 46), and acetylcholine receptor antibody (AChR+) MG patients (N = 27). We compared 12 immune cell subsets in SN MG to controls using logistic modeling via a discovery-replication design. An exploratory analysis fit a multinomial model comparing AChR+ MG and controls to SN MG.RESULTS:
An increase in CD19+ CD20- CD38hi plasmablast frequencies was associated with lower odds of being a SN MG case in both the discovery and replication analyses (discovery P-value = .0003, replication P-value = .0021). Interleukin (IL) -21 producing helper T cell frequencies were associated with a diagnosis of AChR+ MG (P = .004).CONCLUSIONS:
Reduced plasmablast frequencies are strongly associated with a SN MG diagnosis and may be a useful diagnostic biomarker in the future.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Plasma Cells
/
Autoantibodies
/
Receptors, Cholinergic
/
Myasthenia Gravis
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Muscle Nerve
Year:
2021
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States