Cortactin antibody in myasthenia gravis and its clinical significance / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of cortactin antibody in myasthenia gravis (MG).Methods Cortactin antibody in the serum of 100 MG patients, 40 normal controls and 40 other neuroimmune diseases patients was examined by Western blotting and ELISA using purified recombinant human protein cortactin as antigen .Acetylcholine receptor antibody ( AchR-ab ) and muscle specific kinase antibody (MuSK-ab) were parallely measured by ELISA.Results Antibodies to cortactin were found in nine (9％) serum samples of 100 MG patients.Four of the nine cortactin antibody positive sera were also positive for AChR-ab.The rest five MG patients only had antibodies against cortactin ( no detectable AChR-ab or MuSK-ab).None of the control subjects (including 40 normal controls and 40 other neuroimmune diseases patients ) had cortactin antibodies.Most (7/9) of the cortactin antibody positive MG patients presented with early-onset subgroup.Patients only with cortactin antibodies did not appear to have thymoma.Patients with MG who had both AChR and cortactin antibodies showed maximum involvement of muscles and severe Osserman's classification ( three cases of type ⅡB and one case of type Ⅳ) . Conclusion Cortactin antibody may be a new antibody for MG , which can provide clues for further exploring the potential pathogenic mechanisms of the disease .