MuSK autoantibodies in myasthenia gravis detected by cell based assay - A multinational study

A. I. Tsonis, P. Zisimopoulou*, K. Lazaridis, J. Tzartos, E. Matsigkou, V. Zouvelou, R. Mantegazza, C. Antozzi, F. Andreetta, A. Evoli, F. Deymeer, G. Saruhan-Direskeneli, H. Durmus, T. Brenner, A. Vaknin, S. Berrih-Aknin, A. Behin, T. Sharshar, M. De Baets, M. LosenP. Martinez-Martinez, K. A. Kleopa, E. Zamba-Papanicolaou, T. Kyriakides, A. Kostera-Pruszczyk, P. Szczudlik, B. Szyluk, D. Lavrnic, I. Basta, S. Peric, C. Tallaksen, A. Maniaol, C. Casasnovas Pons, J. Pitha, M. Jakubikova, F. Hanisch, S. J. Tzartos

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Seronegative myasthenia gravis (MG) presents a serious gap in MG diagnosis and understanding. We applied a cell based assay (CBA) for the detection of muscle specific kinase (MuSK) antibodies undetectable by radioimmunoassay. We tested 633 triple-seronegative MG patients' sera from 13 countries, detecting 13% as positive. MuSK antibodies were found, at significantly lower frequencies, in 1.9% of healthy controls and 5.1% of other neuroimmune disease patients, including multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica. The clinical data of the newly diagnosed MuSK-MG patients are presented. 27% of ocular seronegative patients were MuSK antibody positive. Moreover, 23% had thymic hyperplasia suggesting that thymic abnormalities are more common than believed.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10-17
JournalJournal of Neuroimmunology
Volume284
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jul 2015

Keywords

  • Myasthenia gravis
  • MuSK
  • Autoantibodies
  • Cell based assay
  • Diagnosis

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