title: Neonatal myasthenia gravis: clinical and immunological study of seven mothers and their newborn infants.
abstract: We studied 7 mothers with myasthenia gravis (MG) and their infants. We confirmed that the development of neonatal MG was not related to the serum titer of maternal anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody (anti-AChR ab). To investigate the possibility that specific immunization of the newborn infant had occurred, serial serum determinations of total and 'specific' anti-AChR IgG and IgM were performed. We found that: the decay in total IgG was within the normal range in all the babies; there was a shorter half-life of 'specific' IgG, compared to total IgG, in 3 of the cases, 2 of which did have neonatal MG; no difference was found between the decay of anti-AChR ab in the babies who had neonatal MG and those who did not; there was no anti-AChR IgM-associated activity. Our data suggest that neonatal MG is due to maternal anti-AChR abs and that affected infants do not produce specific antibodies.
mesh_terms: D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D002038:Bungarotoxins; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000032:analysis; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000151:congenital* / Q000276:immunology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000276:immunology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D002038:Bungarotoxins; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic