title: Concomitant autoimmunity in myasthenia gravis--lack of association with IgA deficiency.
abstract: A marked increase in concomitant autoimmune diseases has previously been noted in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). We show that these diseases occur both before and after the onset of MG and that the process is not influenced by thymectomy. IgA deficiency (IgAD), which is strongly associated with the same HLA haplotype as early onset MG, has recently been suggested to be an autoimmune disease. However, there was no increase in the prevalence of IgAD in a large cohort of Swedish MG patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Immunology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet at Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, SE-141 86 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramanujam
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Piehl
authors.forename: Ritva
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pirskanen
authors.forename: Peter K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Gregersen
authors.forename: Lennart
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hammarström
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D017098:IgA Deficiency / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D012042:Registries