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NEUROLOGY 1998;51:933
© 1998 American Academy of Neurology

Antibody to acetylcholine receptor in myasthenia gravis

Prevalence, clinical correlates, and diagnostic value

JON M. LINDSTROM, PhD, MARJORIE E. SEYBOLD, MD, VANDA A. LENNON, MD, PhD, SENGA WHITTINGHAM, MD and DRAKE D. DUANE, MD

From The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego (Dr. Lindstrom and Dr. Lennon); Veterans Administration Hospital and University of California, San Diego (Dr. Seybold); Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia (Dr. Whittingham); and the Mayo Clinic and Medical School, Rochester, Minnesota (Dr. Duane).

Abstract.

Elevated amounts of antibodies specific for acetylcholine receptors were detected in 87 percent of sera from 71 patients with myasthenia gravis but not in 175 sera from individuals without myasthenia gravis, including those with other neurologic or autoimmune disease. Antireceptor antibodies were not directed at the acetylcholine binding site of the receptor. Presence or titer of antibody did not appear to correlate with age, sex, steroid therapy, or duration of symptoms. Myasthenia gravis patients with only ocular symptoms had lower antibody titers, while the majority of titers in myasthenia gravis patients with thymoma exceeded the median titer of the myasthenia gravis group as a whole. Assay of antireceptor antibody should prove a useful test in the diagnosis of myasthenia gravis.

Footnotes

This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Health, the Muscular Dystrophy Association of America, and the California Chapter of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation.

Received for publication October 20, 1975.

Reprint requests should be addressed to Dr. Lindstrom, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, PO Box 1909, San Diego, CA 92112.

American Academy of Neurology Dedicated to advancing the art and science of neurology, and thereby promoting the best possible care for patients with neurological disorders; A Celebration of the First 50 Years of the American Academy of Neurology






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