title: Follow-up of soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels after thymectomy in patients with myasthenia gravis.
abstract: Soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) levels were followed up after thymectomy by a quantitative immunoradiometric assay in 59 patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). Increased levels of sIL-2R were found in 30.5% of the patients before thymectomy. Serum levels were significantly higher in severely affected patients. Sequential sampling after thymectomy indicated a significant and progressive decline of sIL-2R levels within 2 years after surgery, which was well associated with clinical improvement or remission. The sIL-2R purified from sera of patients with MG had a molecular mass of 45 kDa as the normal sIL-2R. The decline after thymectomy of sIL-2R titers suggests a possible role of the thymus in the occurrence of sIL-2R in the periphery. Soluble IL-2R levels may represent a marker of disease severity in MG, which might be useful in the follow-up of individual patients.
authors.affiliation: CNRS URA-1159, Laboratoire d'Immunologie, Hôpital Marie Lannelongue, Le Plessis-Robinson, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cohen-Kaminsky
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jacques
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aime
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Safar
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Morel
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berrih-Aknin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002846:Chromatography, Affinity; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000097:blood*; D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D012995:Solubility; D013934:Thymectomy
chemical_list: D015375:Receptors, Interleukin-2