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NEUROLOGY 1984;34:1094
© 1984 American Academy of Neurology

IgG subclass distribution of myasthenia gravis thymoma-associated antiskeletal muscle antibodies

C. I. Edvard Smith, Johan A. Aarli, Lennart Hammarstrom and Mats A.A. Persson

From the Department of Clinical Immunology (Drs. Smith, Hammarström, and Person), Huddinge University Hospital, Huddinge; the Department of Immunobiology (Drs. Smith and Hammarström), Wallenberg Laboratory, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; and the Department of Neurology (Dr. Aarli), University of Bergen, Norway.

Myasthenia gravis patients with thymoma often have serum antibodies directed against human skeletal muscle. We have developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to investigate the subclass distribution of these antibodies. Five thymoma patients all had IgG4 antibodies, whereas a patient who developed myasthenia gravis after bonemarrow transplantation had only IgGl antibodies. The data suggest that IgGl is the first subclass to appear in the autoantibody response against skeletal muscle.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Smith, Department of Clinical Immunology, Huddinge University Hospital, S-14186 Huddinge, Sweden.

This investigation was supported by the Swedish Medical Research Council; the Walter, Lennart, and Ellen Hesselman Foundation, and the Åke Wiberg Foundation.

Accepted for publication December 6, 1983.