Subject(s)
Behcet Syndrome/drug therapy , Colchicine/therapeutic use , Adult , Behcet Syndrome/pathology , Drug Evaluation , Female , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
At the same time in 21 myasthenic patients we measured a. the cellular immune response against acetylcholine receptor (AChR) of peripheral lymphocytes, T lymphocytes and non rosette forming lymphocytes (50% B lymphocytes); b. the antibodies to AChR and c. the antigenic modulation activity of their sera on rat myotube AChR. At least one of these parameters was positive in each patient and this further supports the relevance of the immune response to acetylcholine receptor in myasthenia gravis. Strict correlations between the response of lymphocytes, antigenic modulation, antibody titer and disease severity were not evident.
Subject(s)
Autoantibodies/analysis , Autoimmune Diseases/immunology , Immunity, Cellular , Lymphocytes/immunology , Myasthenia Gravis/immunology , Receptors, Cholinergic/immunology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , B-Lymphocytes/immunology , Child , Female , Humans , Immune Sera/pharmacology , Male , Middle Aged , Rosette Formation , T-Lymphocytes/immunologyABSTRACT
Sera of myasthenic patients containing anti-AChR antibodies increase the rate of degradation of mammalian AChR. This phenomenon, antigenic modulation (AMd), was tested on AChR of rat myotubes in serum from 48 myasthenic patients. Sixty-six percent of the sera increased AChR degradation. AMd activity was higher in more severely affected patients, paralleled clinical evolution in individual patients, and was related to AChR-antibody titer. Steroid treatment and thymectomy did not affect AMd activity. Patients who had a thymoma always had greater AMd activity.
