title: Elevated plasma interleukin-17A in a subgroup of Myasthenia Gravis patients.
abstract: To better define the role of IL-17A in myasthenia gravis (MG), we assessed plasma concentrations in 69 adult patients with MG prior to initiation of immunosuppression and monitored their clinical course for the subsequent 2years with quantitative MG scores (QMGS) and Osserman classification. IL-17A was higher among patients than healthy control subjects. Early-onset women without thymoma had greater elevations of IL-17A. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the absence of thymoma rather than women gender or early-onset was the significant determinant associated with IL-17A elevation. Elevated IL-17A levels were associated with more severe MG. In summary, IL-17A has role in the pathogenesis of a subgroup of patients with early-onset women with MG with greater disease severity who are most likely to have thymic hyperplasia. This subgroup may be a target for IL-17 treatments, which are under development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA; Department of Neurology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: markdragon@gwu.edu.
authors.forename: Yanchen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Myasthenia Gravis Center and Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Medical College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China. Electronic address: drlhf@163.com.
authors.forename: Hai-feng
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: jiangbin249@163.com.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: yaoyao199101@163.com.
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA; Department of Neurology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA. Electronic address: hkaminski@mfa.gwu.edu.
authors.forename: Henry J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kaminski
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA; Department of Neurology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA. Electronic address: lkusner@gwu.edu.
authors.forename: Linda L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Kusner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020381:Interleukin-17 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology; D013945:Thymoma / Q000150:complications; D013952:Thymus Hyperplasia / Q000150:complications; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000150:complications
chemical_list: C508717:IL17A protein, human; D020381:Interleukin-17
keywords: Autoimmune diseases; Interleukin-17A; Myasthenia gravis