title: Clinical comparison of anti-MuSK- vs anti-AChR-positive and seronegative myasthenia gravis.
abstract: We compared 65 anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR)-negative myasthenia gravis (MG) patients, including 32 anti-muscle-specific tyrosine kinase (MuSK)-positive (49%) and 33 anti-MuSK-negative (seronegative) (51%) patients, with 161 anti-AChR-positive MG patients. The anti-MuSK-positive group had a higher frequency of bulbar involvement and respiratory crises. The seronegative group was in between the anti-MuSK positive and the anti-AChR positive groups, being closer to the latter, with regard to the severity of the disease. At the end of follow-up, the outcome of the anti-MuSK-positive patients was not different from that of the anti-AChR-positive patients, although their maintenance corticosteroid dose was higher. The seronegative patients had better outcome than the other two groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Medical Faculty, Capa, 34390 Istanbul, Turkey. deymeer@tnn.net
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Deymeer
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gungor-Tuncer
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Parman
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Serdaroglu
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vincent
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Saruhan-Direskeneli
mesh_terms: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D015984:Causality; D018450:Disease Progression; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009469:Neuromuscular Junction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000276:immunology*; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000276:immunology*; D012131:Respiratory Insufficiency / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012698:Serologic Tests; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D001323:Autoantibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic; C095714:MUSK protein, human; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases