1. MuSK autoantibodies in myasthenia gravis detected by cell based assay โ A multinational study.
- Author
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Tsonis, A.I., Zisimopoulou, P., Lazaridis, K., Tzartos, J., Matsigkou, E., Zouvelou, V., Mantegazza, R., Antozzi, C., Andreetta, F., Evoli, A., Deymeer, F., Saruhan-Direskeneli, G., Durmus, H., Brenner, T., Vaknin, A., Berrih-Aknin, S., Behin, A., Sharshar, T., De Baets, M., and Losen, M.
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MYASTHENIA gravis , *PROTEIN-tyrosine kinases , *AUTOANTIBODIES , *RADIOIMMUNOASSAY , *THYMUS hyperplasia , *NEUROMYELITIS optica , *SERODIAGNOSIS , *CONTROL groups , *PATIENTS - Abstract
Seronegative myasthenia gravis (MG) presents a serious gap in MG diagnosis and understanding. We applied a cell based assay (CBA) for the detection of muscle specific kinase (MuSK) antibodies undetectable by radioimmunoassay. We tested 633 triple-seronegative MG patients' sera from 13 countries, detecting 13% as positive. MuSK antibodies were found, at significantly lower frequencies, in 1.9% of healthy controls and 5.1% of other neuroimmune disease patients, including multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica. The clinical data of the newly diagnosed MuSK-MG patients are presented. 27% of ocular seronegative patients were MuSK antibody positive. Moreover, 23% had thymic hyperplasia suggesting that thymic abnormalities are more common than believed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
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