Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Hara, H.
• Hayashi, K.
• Ohta, K.
• Itoh, N.
• Ohta, M.

Titel

Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor mRNAs in Myasthenic Thymuses: Association with Intrathymic Pathogenesis of Myasthenia Gravis

Ist Teil von

• Biochemical and biophysical research communications, 1993-08, Vol.194 (3), p.1269-1275

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

1993

Quelle

Elsevier Journal Backfiles on ScienceDirect (DFG Nationallizenzen)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Reverse transcription and the polymerase chain reaction showed that the α-, β- and γ-subunit genes of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) in human skeletal muscle were expressed in myasthenia gravis (MG) thymuses (3 thymomas and 7 hyperplastic thymuses). A study of the expression of these subunit mRNAs in a variety of human tissues showed that α-subunit mRNA was expressed in human thymus and cerebral cortex, and that all three subunits were expressed only in human child thymus. Our results suggest that a complete AChR similar to extrajunctional (embryonic) muscle AChR is expressed in MG thymuses and that intrathymic AChR might be the primary antigen which induces autoimmune responses to muscle AChR.