1. MuSK autoantibodies in myasthenia gravis detected by cell based assay--A multinational study.
- Author
-
Tsonis AI, Zisimopoulou P, Lazaridis K, Tzartos J, Matsigkou E, Zouvelou V, Mantegazza R, Antozzi C, Andreetta F, Evoli A, Deymeer F, Saruhan-Direskeneli G, Durmus H, Brenner T, Vaknin A, Berrih-Aknin S, Behin A, Sharshar T, De Baets M, Losen M, Martinez-Martinez P, Kleopa KA, Zamba-Papanicolaou E, Kyriakides T, Kostera-Pruszczyk A, Szczudlik P, Szyluk B, Lavrnic D, Basta I, Peric S, Tallaksen C, Maniaol A, Casasnovas Pons C, Pitha J, Jakubíkova M, Hanisch F, and Tzartos SJ
- Subjects
- Adult, Aged, Female, Flow Cytometry, Humans, International Cooperation, LDL-Receptor Related Proteins immunology, Male, Middle Aged, Myasthenia Gravis pathology, Neuromyelitis Optica diagnosis, Radioimmunoassay, Receptors, Cholinergic immunology, Thymus Gland pathology, Thymus Hyperplasia diagnosis, Autoantibodies blood, Myasthenia Gravis blood, Myasthenia Gravis diagnosis, Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases immunology
- Abstract
Seronegative myasthenia gravis (MG) presents a serious gap in MG diagnosis and understanding. We applied a cell based assay (CBA) for the detection of muscle specific kinase (MuSK) antibodies undetectable by radioimmunoassay. We tested 633 triple-seronegative MG patients' sera from 13 countries, detecting 13% as positive. MuSK antibodies were found, at significantly lower frequencies, in 1.9% of healthy controls and 5.1% of other neuroimmune disease patients, including multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica. The clinical data of the newly diagnosed MuSK-MG patients are presented. 27% of ocular seronegative patients were MuSK antibody positive. Moreover, 23% had thymic hyperplasia suggesting that thymic abnormalities are more common than believed., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2015
- Full Text
- View/download PDF