T helper cell recognition of muscle acetylcholine receptor in myasthenia gravis. Epitopes on the gamma and delta subunits.
AUTOR(ES)
Manfredi, A A
RESUMO
We tested the response of CD4+ cells and/or total lymphocytes from the blood of 22 myasthenic patients and 10 healthy controls to overlapping synthetic peptides, 20 residues long, to screen the sequence of the gamma and delta subunits of human muscle acetylcholine receptor (AChR). The gamma subunit is part of the AChR expressed in embryonic muscle and is substituted in the AChRs of most adult muscles by an epsilon subunit. The delta subunit is present in both embryonic and adult AChRs. Adult extrinsic ocular muscles, which are preferentially and sometimes uniquely affected by myasthenic symptoms, and thymus, which has a still obscure but important role in the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis, express the embryonic gamma subunit. Anti-AChR CD4+ responses were more easily detected after CD8+ depletion. All responders recognized epitopes on both the gamma and delta subunits and had severe symptoms. In four patients the CD4+ cell response was tested twice, when the symptoms were severe and during a period of remission. Consistently, the response was only detectable, or larger, when the patients were severely affected.
ACESSO AO ARTIGO
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=294946Documentos Relacionados
- Myasthenia gravis. CD4+ T epitopes on the embryonic gamma subunit of human muscle acetylcholine receptor.
- Immunodominant regions for T helper-cell sensitization on the human nicotinic receptor alpha subunit in myasthenia gravis.
- Mechanisms of acetylcholine receptor loss in myasthenia gravis.
- Anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody measurement in myasthenia gravis.
- Autoimmune T lymphocytes in myasthenia gravis. Determination of target epitopes using T lines and recombinant products of the mouse nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene.