Anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody specificities in serum and in thymic cell culture supernatants from myasthenia gravis patients.
We investigated the role of the thymus in myasthenia gravis by comparing the antigenic specificities of anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies (anti-AChR), defined by competition with mouse monoclonal antibodies that bind to five different regions on human muscle AChR, in thymic culture supernatants and in serum pre- and post-thymectomy. Anti-AChR specificities present in the serum were broadly unchanged in 16 non-thymoma and six thymoma patients 7-30 months after thymectomy compared with an initial sample, although total anti-AChR frequently fell. The fine specificities of the anti-AChR synthesized in vitro by cultured lymphocytes from the thymus of ten patients (without thymoma) correlated significantly with that of the anti-AChR in the serum at the same time. We conclude that AChR-specific B cells in the thymus are representative of the total AChR-specific repertoire, and that thymectomy does not selectively deplete particular B cell clones.
Heidenreich
F
F
Department of Neurological Science, Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London, England.
Vincent
A
A
Willcox
N
N
Newsom-Davis
J
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology
D000906:Antibodies; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic