title: T-cell recognition of acetylcholine receptor provides a reliable means for monitoring autoimmunity to acetylcholine receptor in antibody-negative myasthenia gravis patients.
abstract: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease usually associated with autoantibodies (auto-Abs) against nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR). Some MG patients appear negative for anti-AChR Abs (seronegative), and a fraction of these have auto-Abs against muscle-specific kinase. The remaining patients, although displaying MG symptoms, show no detectable auto-Abs. We describe here a possible association of a rare human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ type and AChR Ab-negative MG. We also found that the majority of seronegative patients exhibit an anti-AChR autoimmune T lymphocyte response. We investigated the existence of AChR-reactive T cells in peripheral blood lymphocytes from seronegative patients by their proliferative responses against a mixture of 18 overlapping synthetic peptides encompassing the extracellular part of human AChR α-chain. Of the 10 samples, eight exhibited positive T-cell proliferative responses against the peptide mixtures. The proliferative assay was equally efficient using a mixture of eight peptides frequently recognized by MG T cells. This T-cell proliferative assay should provide a reliable method for monitoring seronegative MG patients.
authors: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
authors: Minako
authors: M
authors: Oshima
authors: Philip R
authors: PR
authors: Deitiker
authors: R Glenn
authors: RG
authors: Smith
authors: Dennis
authors: D
authors: Mosier
authors: M Zouhair
authors: MZ
authors: Atassi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006683:HLA-DQ Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D006683:HLA-DQ Antigens; D010455:Peptides; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic