title: Myasthenia gravis accompanied by thymomas not related to foamy virus genome in Belarusian's patients.
abstract: The spectrum and features of neurological disorders have been changed due to the Chernobyl catastrophe in the Republic of Belarus. More recently neurologists in Belarus have noted a significant increase in the frequency of myasthenia gravis (MG) with concomitant rise in the thymomas. There is some evidence suggesting that retroviruses play a key role in the development and pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. This study analyzed thymomas from 45 MG patients from the Republic of Belarus by using PCR and primers for two regions of FV--gag and bel-2 genes. The results showed that none of the varied thymuses from the 45 MG patients contained FV genome. No relationship can be confirmed between FV and this disease and the results suggest that no pathological link between FV and MG exists.
authors.affiliation: Belarusian Research & Production Center for Hematology & Transfusiology, Minsk, Republic of Belarus. okuzmeno@hsc.usf.edu
authors.forename: Oleg I
authors.initials: OI
authors.lastname: Kuzmenok
authors.forename: Gennady A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Dvoryanchikov
authors.forename: Ekaterina N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Ponomareva
authors.forename: Aleksey A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Goncharov
authors.forename: Igor K
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Fomin
authors.forename: Sho-Tone
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Sanberg
authors.forename: Michail P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Potapnev
mesh_terms: D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000235:genetics; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D002094:Republic of Belarus; D053150:Simian foamy virus / Q000235:genetics*; D013945:Thymoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D015683:Gene Products, gag; D015534:Trans-Activators