Anti-titin antibodies in myasthenia gravis: tight association with thymoma and heterogeneity of nonthymoma patients.
Arch Neurol
; 58(6): 885-90, 2001 Jun.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-11405802
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Titin is the major autoantigen recognized by anti-striated muscle antibodies, which are characteristic of generalized myasthenia gravis (MG).OBJECTIVE:
To seek a correlation between anti-titin antibodies and other features of MG patients, including histopathology, age at diagnosis, anti-acetylcholine receptor (anti-AChR), autoantibody titers, and clinical severity.METHODS:
A novel, highly specific radioligand assay was performed on a large group of 398 patients with generalized MG.RESULTS:
Among thymectomized patients, anti-titin antibodies were present in most patients with thymoma (56/70 [80%]), contrasting with only a minority of patients with thymus atrophy or hyperplasia (17/165 [10%]). They were also present in 64 (41%) of 155 nonthymectomized patients who had a radiologically normal thymus. In these patients and in those who had a histologically normal thymus, anti-titin antibodies were associated with a later age at onset of disease and with intermediate titers of anti-AChR antibodies. After controlling for these 2 variables, disease severity was not significantly influenced by anti-titin antibodies.CONCLUSIONS:
Anti-titin antibodies are a sensitive marker of thymoma associated with MG in patients 60 years and younger, justifying the insistent search for a thymoma in MG patients of this age group who have these antibodies. In nonthymoma patients, anti-titin antibodies represent an interesting marker complementary to the anti-AChR antibody titer, identifying a restricted subset of patients. These clinical correlations should prompt further studies to examine the mechanisms leading to the production of anti-titin antibodies.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Protein Kinases
/
Thymoma
/
Thymus Neoplasms
/
Receptors, Cholinergic
/
Antibodies, Neoplasm
/
Muscle Proteins
/
Myasthenia Gravis
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Arch Neurol
Year:
2001
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
France