RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the effect of immunoadsorption therapy in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) and explore the mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This investigation involved 20 patients with MG treated with immunoadsorption combined with hormonal therapy and another 20 with only hormonal therapy, and 15 healthy subjects served as the control group. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the changes in serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) after the treatments, and the therapeutic effect of the treatments was evaluated using clinical scores.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The clinical scores were significantly decreased after immunoadsorption therapy, showing a significant difference from that in the hormonal treatment group (P<0.05). The serum TNF-a and IL-18 levels were significantly higher in the two patient groups than in the control group (P<0.05), but in the former two groups, their levels were significantly lower in immunoadsorption therapy group (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Immunoadsorption therapy eliminates the inflammatory cytokines and free radicals as well as the circulating autoantibodies to improve the clinical symptoms of MG.</p>