title: Heart muscle antibodies in myasthenia gravis.
abstract: Myasthenia gravis (MG) may in some patients, especially in those with a thymoma, involve the heart. Using an ELISA, we measured heart muscle antibodies in sera from 75 MG patients and in 173 control sera. Heart muscle antibodies were detected in 29/30 thymoma MG patients, in none of 30 young onset MG patients with thymic hyperplasia and in 7/15 late onset MG patients with thymic atrophy. Among the controls, four sera had a very low concentration of heart muscle antibodies. Absorption studies showed that the heart muscle antibodies cross-react with skeletal muscle, but are unrelated to acetylcholine receptor antibodies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mygland
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Aarli
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hofstad
authors.forename: N E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Gilhus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D002648:Child; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009132:Muscles / Q000276:immunology; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000150:complications; D009206:Myocardium / Q000276:immunology*; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000276:immunology; D013945:Thymoma / Q000150:complications; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000150:complications
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic