title: Increased number of Hassall's corpuscles in myasthenia gravis patients with thymic hyperplasia.
abstract: The thymus is implicated as an organ that contributes to autoimmunity in myasthenia gravis (MG) patients. Hassall's corpuscles (HCs) are assumed to represent the terminally differentiated stage of medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs). By using multicolor immunohistofluorescence analysis, we examined HCs in thymuses that were therapeutically excised from MG (+) and MG (-) patients. We found that the number of HCs per unit area of the thymic medulla was significantly elevated in the thymuses of MG (+) patients with thymic hyperplasia. CCL21 expression increased in the hyperplastic MG thymuses. We speculate that the altered differentiation of mTECs is associated with the thymic hyperplasia and the onset of MG.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Institute of Health Bioscience, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan; Division of Experimental Immunology, Institute for Genome Research, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan. Electronic address: nao-mm@clin.med.tokushima-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Matsui
authors.affiliation: Division of Experimental Immunology, Institute for Genome Research, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Izumi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ohigashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Institute of Health Bioscience, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Keijirou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Division of Experimental Immunology, Institute for Genome Research, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Mie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sakata
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Institute of Health Bioscience, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.affiliation: Division of Experimental Immunology, Institute for Genome Research, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan; Department of Oncological Regenerative Surgery, Institute of Health Bioscience, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncological Regenerative Surgery, Institute of Health Bioscience, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Institute of Health Bioscience, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kitagawa
authors.affiliation: Division of Child Neurology, Kanagawa Children's Medical Center, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Sumimasa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.affiliation: Segawa Neurological Clinic for Children, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.affiliation: Division of Experimental Immunology, Institute for Genome Research, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Yousuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takahama
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Institute of Health Bioscience, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryuji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kaji
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002452:Cell Count / Q000379:methods; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D054421:Chemokine CCL21 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D013952:Thymus Hyperplasia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: C515478:CCL21 protein, human; D054421:Chemokine CCL21
keywords: Hassall's corpuscle; Medullary thymic epithelial cell; Myasthenia gravis; Thymic hyperplasia; Thymus