In vitro synthesis of antibodies to acetylcholine receptor by peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with myasthenia gravis.
We studied the in vitro synthesis of antibodies to acetylcholine receptor (anti-AChR) by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBM) of patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) and normal subjects (NS). PBM from three of eight patients with generalized MG (MG-G) synthesized anti-AChR in vitro in the absence of pokeweed mitogen (PWM), and seven of eight did so in the presence of PWM. In individual subjects with MG-G, the levels of anti-AChR secreted in vitro by PBM correlated with serum anti-AChR antibody levels (r = 0.77) but not with the amount of IgG secreted in vitro (r = 0.44). No anti-AChR secretion was seen in culture of PBM from a patient with ocular MG, a patient with thymoma without MG, or six NS.
D000328:Adult; D000917:Antibody Formation; D001773:Blood Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D002196:Capillaries; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003513:Cycloheximide / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000276:immunology*; D011043:Pokeweed Mitogens / Q000276:immunology; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000276:immunology*
D011043:Pokeweed Mitogens; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic; D003513:Cycloheximide