Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody.
We report a case of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody in a 73-year-old female patient. She showed the typical course of ALS. She had no clinical findings of myasthenia gravis and had never undergone neurotoxin therapy using snake venom. Anti-AChR antibody was positive with a titer of 0.50 nmol/l on admission. We traced the titers during the progression of ALS; the titer was positive when muscle weakness worsened, and it became negative when the general condition became stable. We suppose that the occurrence of anti-AChR antibody may be partially relevant with abnormalities at the neuromuscular junction during the progression of ALS.
Okuyama
Y
Y
Department of Preventive Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine.
Mizuno
T
T
Inoue
H
H
Kimoto
K
K
D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018908:Muscle Weakness / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000276:immunology*
D001323:Autoantibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic