Preferential expression of AChR epsilon-subunit in thymomas from patients with myasthenia gravis
| Autor: | Calman A. MacLennan, Angela Vincent, David Beeson, John Newsom-Davis, Alexander Marx, Nils Eric Gilhus, Nicholas Willcox |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Thymoma animal structures Adolescent Protein subunit Immunology Gene Expression Receptors Nicotinic Biology 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Antigen hemic and lymphatic diseases Myasthenia Gravis medicine Humans Immunology and Allergy RNA Messenger Aged Autoantibodies 030304 developmental biology Acetylcholine receptor 0303 health sciences Messenger RNA Autoantibody Thymus Neoplasms Middle Aged Thymectomy musculoskeletal system medicine.disease Molecular biology Myasthenia gravis Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction Neurology Female Neurology (clinical) 030217 neurology & neurosurgery |
| Popis: | The role of antigen expression by thymomas in myasthenia gravis (MG) is not clear. Previous reports of acetylcholine receptor (AChR) mRNA expression by the highly sensitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reactions (RT-PCR) produced varying results. To try to clarify this issue, we first used RT-PCR but then turned to the more accurate and quantitative RNase protection assays (RPA) to assess AChR subunit mRNA expression in thymomas from 25 patients (22 with MG). By RT-PCR, all five AChR subunits could be detected in many thymomas. However, by RPA, the mRNA for the adult-specific AChR epsilon-subunit was found in 13/25 (52%) thymomas, but not mRNA for the other subunits. AChR epsilon-subunit was more frequently detected in thymomas of A or AB histology (WHO classification) than those with B1-B3 histology. Overall, 6/6 with thymomas of A or AB histology were positive compared with only 8/19 with B histology (p=0.02). Autoantibodies in the two patients with the highest levels of epsilon-subunit mRNA bound better to adult (alpha(2)betadeltaepsilon) AChR than to fetal (alpha(2)betadeltagamma) AChR, whereas the other sera bound better to fetal AChR. The greater abundance of mRNA for AChR epsilon-subunit than for other subunits suggests that the AChR epsilon-subunit may play a distinctive role in autosensitization in MG-associated thymomas, particularly those of type A or AB. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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