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The Intrathymic Pathogenesis of Myasthenia Gravis

The thymus is considered to play an important role in the pathogenesis of Myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disease characterized by antibody-mediated skeletal muscle weakness. However, its role is yet to be defined. The studies described herein summarize our efforts to determine how intrathymic expr...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Levinson, Arnold I., Song, Decheng, Gaulton, Glen, Zheng, Yi
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2004
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2486327/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15559366
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17402520400001769
Descripción
Sumario:The thymus is considered to play an important role in the pathogenesis of Myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disease characterized by antibody-mediated skeletal muscle weakness. However, its role is yet to be defined. The studies described herein summarize our efforts to determine how intrathymic expression of the neuromuscular type of acetylcholine (ACh) receptors is involved in the immunopathogenesis of this autoimmune disease. We review the work characterizing the expression of neuromuscular ACh receptors in the thymus and advance a new hypothesis that examines the intrathymic expression of this autoantigen in disease pathogenesis.