Clinical study of FK506 in patients with myasthenia gravis.
To investigate the usefulness of low-dose FK506 for the treatment of myasthenia gravis (MG), we treated 19 patients with generalized MG in a 16-week open clinical trial of FK506 (3-5 mg/day). At the end of the trial, total MG scores (range: 0-27 points) improved by 3 points or more in 7 of 19 patients (37%), and activities of daily living (ADL) scores (range: 0-6 points) also improved by 1 point or more in 8 of 19 patients (42%). Nine of 19 patients (47%) showed improvement in either MG or ADL scores. Significant reduction of anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody titers and interleukin 2 production were observed at the end of this study. Minor but commonly observed side effects were an increase in neutrophil count and a decrease in lymphocyte count. No serious adverse events such as renal toxicity or diabetes mellitus were observed during the 16-week treatment period. FK506 could safely serve as an adjunct to steroid therapy for MG at low dosage.
Konishi
Tetsuro
T
Department of Neurology, Utano National Hospital, 8 Ondoyama-cho, Narutaki, Kyoto 616-8255, Japan. konishi@unh.hosp.go.jp
Yoshiyama
Yasumasa
Y
Takamori
Masaharu
M
Yagi
Koichi
K
Mukai
Eiichiro
E
Saida
Takahiko
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D016559:Tacrolimus