title: Expression of ciliary neurotrophic factor receptor in myasthenia gravis.
abstract: In myasthenia gravis, high anti-nicotinic receptor (AChR) antibody titers are not always associated with severity of the disease, suggesting the involvement of other pathological effectors. We showed that ciliary neurotrophic factor receptor (CNTFR) gene expression was higher in muscle biopsy tissue from severely affected MG patients regardless of anti-nAChR antibody titer. This increase was also triggered in vitro by a seric factor from MG patients. CNTFR protein expression was decreased in muscles from seropositive MG patients only.Altogether, our data indicate that the alteration of CNTFR expression in some MG patients could contribute to the severity of the disease in a subgroup of patients.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physiologie Thymique, CNRS ESA 8078, Hôpital Marie Lannelongue, 133 Avenue de la Résistance, 92350, Le Plessis Robinson, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Poëa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Guyon
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Levasseur
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berrih-Aknin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D002478:Cells, Cultured / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D020801:Receptor, Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D001798:Blood Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D020801:Receptor, Ciliary Neurotrophic Factor; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic