title: Altered populations of natural killer cell and natural killer T cell subclasses in myasthenia gravis.
abstract: Since the innate immune system can influence the disease activity of myasthenia gravis (MG), such as during infection, the frequencies of natural killer (NK) cells and NKT cells were analyzed in the blood and thymus. Before therapy (thymectomy plus glucocorticoid), the MG patients with thymic hyperplasia, but not those with thymoma, showed increased frequencies of mature NKT cells (CD3(+)TCRV(alpha)24(+)CD161(bright)) in the blood, while the frequency of immature NKT cells was unaltered. In the blood of the patients with thymoma, but not those with hyperplasia, the frequency of cytotoxic subclass of NK cells (CD3(-)CD16(+)CD56(dim)) was lower than that of the control. These alterations returned to normal after therapy. The thymic frequencies of NKT cells and NK cells in MG thymuses were unaltered. These results suggest the involvement of both innate and acquired immunity in the disease activity of MG.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-Machi, Aobaku, Sendai 980-8574, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Onodera
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tago
authors.forename: Ryuji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohuchi
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Yasuto
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Itoyama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism*; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D013934:Thymectomy / Q000379:methods; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D013952:Thymus Hyperplasia
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D005938:Glucocorticoids