title: Characterization of thymus cells in hyperplastic thymuses in patients with myasthenia gravis and ulcerative colitis with monoclonal antibodies.
abstract: Recently, increasing attention has been paid to thymic relevance to pathogenesis in some autoimmune diseases. In this report, the thymus cells from 7 patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) and 6 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), who had undergone thymectomy for complication of thymic hyperplasia, were studied. The thymus cells were characterized with monoclonal antibodies (Anti-Leu-2a and Anti-Leu-3a) which define human T-cell surface antigens. Although the control thymus consisted of 82-94% of thymocytes which were reactive with Anti-Leu-2a and 90-95% of cells reactive with Anti-Leu-3a, in UC patients both Leu-2a positive thymus cells (38-56%) and Leu-3a positive cells (68-82%) were decreased. Concerning MG thymocytes, Leu-2a positive cells were also decreased (66-81%), but the percentage of Leu-3a positive cells did not show a remarkable change (86-90%) compared with control thymocytes. Considering the above results and many reports telling functional and populational abnormalities of peripheral immunocompetent cells, the process of intra-thymic T-cell maturation may be impaired in these autoimmune diseases.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000954:Antigens, Surface; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013952:Thymus Hyperplasia / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000954:Antigens, Surface