title: Expression of extracellular domains of muscle specific kinase (MuSK) and use as immunoadsorbents for the development of an antigen-specific therapy.
abstract: Antibodies against MuSK seem to be the pathogenic factor in approximately 5-8% of myasthenia gravis (MG) patients. We aim to develop an antigen-specific therapy in which only MuSK antibodies will be removed from patients' plasma using MuSK extracellular domain (MuSK-ECD) as immunoadsorbent. We showed that two different immunoadsorbents, very efficiently and selectively depleted the MuSK antibodies from all tested sera, were stable during the procedure and were reusable. Furthermore, animal experiments showed that the treatment has no toxic effects to the animals. We conclude that the MuSK-ECD-mediated immunoadsorption can be used as an efficient antigen-specific therapy for MuSK-MG.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece; Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Rio, Greece.
authors.forename: Lamprini
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Skriapa
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece. Electronic address: zisimopoulou@pasteur.gr.
authors.forename: Paraskevi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zisimopoulou
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Trakas
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Aretaieion Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Eirini
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Grapsa
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece; Department of Pharmacy, University of Patras, Rio, Greece. Electronic address: tzartos@pasteur.gr.
authors.forename: Socrates J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Tzartos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003964:Diaphragm / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007116:Immunization, Passive / Q000379:methods*; D007163:Immunosorbent Techniques; D007164:Immunosorbents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D007164:Immunosorbents; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic; C095714:MUSK protein, human; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
keywords: Autoimmune diseases; Extracellular domains; Immunoadsorption; Immunotherapy; MuSK antibodies; Myasthenia gravis