title: Striational antibodies in myasthenia gravis: reactivity and possible clinical significance.
abstract: Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease caused, in most cases, by antibodies attaching to the acetylcholine receptor. Some myasthenia gravis patients have antibodies that bind in a cross-striational pattern to skeletal and heart muscle tissue sections (striational antibodies). These antibodies react with epitopes on the muscle proteins titin and ryanodine receptor, are found mainly in sera of patients with thymoma and late-onset myasthenia gravis, and may correlate with myasthenia gravis severity. Their presence may predict an unsatisfactory outcome after thymectomy. The detection of titin and ryanodine receptor antibodies provides more specific clinical information than the immunofluorescent demonstration of striational antibodies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. fredrik.romi@haukeland.no
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Romi
authors.forename: Geir Olve
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Skeie
authors.forename: Nils Erik
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Gilhus
authors.forename: Johan Arild
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Aarli
mesh_terms: D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000378:metabolism*; D001666:Binding Sites, Antibody; D064211:Connectin; D006801:Humans; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D019837:Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D064211:Connectin; D009124:Muscle Proteins; D019837:Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel; C577285:TTN protein, human; D011494:Protein Kinases