[CITATION][C] The Role of the Thymus in Myasthenia Gravis: Immunohistological and Immunological Studies in 115 Casesa

S Berrih‐Aknin, E Morel, F Raimond… - Annals of the New …, 1987 - Wiley Online Library
S Berrih‐Aknin, E Morel, F Raimond, D Safar, C Gaud, JP Binet, P Levasseur, JF Bach
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1987Wiley Online Library
The thymus and its cellular products, the T cells, are involved in many aspects of
autoimmune diseases. T cells may act as effector cells, as is suspected in chronic active
hepatitis and in type I diabetes. They may also operate as helper T cells for autoantibody
formation. Last, suppressor T cells are known to regulate negatively humoral and cell-
mediated autoimmune responses, and their deficiency has been incriminated in the
pathogenesis of several experimental and clinical autoimmune diseases. These contrasting …
The thymus and its cellular products, the T cells, are involved in many aspects of autoimmune diseases. T cells may act as effector cells, as is suspected in chronic active hepatitis and in type I diabetes. They may also operate as helper T cells for autoantibody formation. Last, suppressor T cells are known to regulate negatively humoral and cell-mediated autoimmune responses, and their deficiency has been incriminated in the pathogenesis of several experimental and clinical autoimmune diseases. These contrasting actions explain why thymectomy may show diverse effects on the course of experimental autoimmune diseases. Neonatal thymectomy prevents the onset of lupus in MRL/l mice, of diabetes in NOD mice, and of most experimentally induced autoimmune diseases. Conversely, it aggravates the lupus of NZB (NZB X NZW) F1 and B X SB mice and the thyroiditis of obese strain chickens.’.’Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease associated with antibodies against acetylcholine receptor (AChR). Several arguments suggest the existence of a close relationship between disease pathogenesis and thymus function. The disease is frequently associated with morphological abnormalities of the thymus gland (hyperplasia or thym~ ma);~.‘thymectomy has been reported to improve the symptoms of the disease; 5* 6 thymocytes from myasthenics produce anti-AChR antibodies;’.’and their epithelial cells synthesize increased amounts of thymic hormone^,^ one of which has been reported to depress neuromuscular conduction. lo Last, the presence of AChR in extracts of myasthenic thymuses can be demonstrated both by its function (a-bungarotoxin binding) and its antigenicity (cross-immunoreactivity with muscle AChR).”.’’It is the purpose of this article to review the data in the literature and
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