title: Myasthenia gravis induces the activation and maturation of lymphocytes in thymoma.
abstract: The biological differences between lymphocytes separated from thymoma patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) and those separated from thymoma patients without MG was examined. We investigated whether lymphocytes in thymoma (Th-L) of patients with and without MG could react to interleukin-2 (IL-2) to develop cytolytic activity against K562 and lympho kine-activated killer (LAK) activity, and their phenotypic changes during incubation with IL-2. Sixteen thymoma patients who consisted of eight patients with MG and eight patients without MG were investigated. Th-L of all MG patients could react to IL-2 to develop LAK activity. Th-L of all of MG patients also developed cytolytic activity against K562 target cells. Cytolytic activity against K562 and LAK activity from Th-L of the MG patients were significantly higher than those from Th-L of the patients without MG (P < 0.01, P < 0.01). The proportions of CD3+ and CD4-/CD8+ cells of Th-L of MG patients increased significantly during the incubation period with IL-2 (P < 0.05, P < 0.05). The proportion of CD4+/CD8+ cells of Th-L of patients with MG decreased significantly (P < 0.05) during incubation with IL-2. On the other hand, there was no significant phenotypic change in Th-L of the patients without MG. These results indicate that MG induces the functional and phenotypic activation and functional and phenotypic maturation of Th-L.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Monden
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kamamura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uyama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017252:CD3 Complex / Q000378:metabolism; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D016516:CD4-CD8 Ratio; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D015979:Killer Cells, Lymphokine-Activated / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000276:immunology*; D013945:Thymoma / Q000276:immunology*; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D017252:CD3 Complex; D015704:CD4 Antigens