MuSK autoantibodies in myasthenia gravis detected by cell based assay--A multinational study.


Tsonis A. I., Zisimopoulou P., Lazaridis K., Tzartos J., Matsigkou E., Zouvelou V., ...More

Journal of neuroimmunology, vol.284, pp.10-7, 2015 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 284
  • Publication Date: 2015
  • Doi Number: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2015.04.015
  • Journal Name: Journal of neuroimmunology
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.10-7
  • Istanbul University Affiliated: Yes

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. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.