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- Title
Fewer thymic changes in MuSK antibody‐positive than in MuSK antibody‐negative MG.
- Authors
Maria Isabel Leite; Philipp Ströbel; Margaret Jones; Kingsley Micklem; Regina Moritz; Ralf Gold; Erik H. Niks; Sonia Berrih‐Aknin; Francesco Scaravilli; Aurea Canelhas; Alexander Marx; John Newsom‐Davis; Nick Willcox; Angela Vincent
- Abstract
In generalized myasthenia gravis (MG) patients without detectable acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibodies (SNMG), the thymus is often reported as “normally involuted.” We analyzed thymic compartments in 67 patients with generalized MG, with AChR antibodies (AChR+, n = 23), with muscle‐specific kinase (MuSK) antibodies (MuSK+, n = 14) or with neither (MuSK−, n = 30), and in 11 non‐MG controls. Four of 14 MuSK+ thymi had rare small germinal centers, but overall they were not different from age‐matched controls. However, approximately 75% MuSK− samples showed lymph node–type infiltrates similar to those in AChR+ patients, but with fewer germinal centers. These variations may explain some apparent differences in responses to thymectomy in SNMG. Ann Neurol 2005;57:444–448
- Publication
Annals of Neurology, 2005, Vol 57, Issue 3, p444
- ISSN
0364-5134
- Publication type
Article