Thymoma-associated myasthenia gravis. Transplantation of thymoma and extrathymomal thymic tissue into SCID mice

Item Type:	Article
Title:	Thymoma-associated myasthenia gravis. Transplantation of thymoma and extrathymomal thymic tissue into SCID mice
Creators Name:	Spuler, S. and Sarropoulos, A. and Marx, A. and Hohlfeld, R. and Wekerle, H.
Abstract:	To study the possible role of thymomas and of extrathymomal thymic tissue in the development and maintenance of myasthenia gravis, we transplanted fragments of either tissue into SCID mice and monitored the production of anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies in the recipients. Furthermore, the transplants were characterized by immunohistochemistry. Unlike after transplantation of thymus with lymphofollicular hyperplasia that induced high titers of anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies, thymoma transplants never produced autoantibodies. Mice transplanted with extrathymomal thymic tissue also failed to produce anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies except one group that received transplants containing hyperplastic extrathymomal tissue. These findings may explain the refractoriness of thymomatous myasthenia to thymectomy.
Keywords:	Autoantibodies, Cholinergic Receptors, Hyperplasia, Immunoglobulin G, Immunohistochemistry, SCID Mice, Myasthenia Gravis, Neoplasm Transplantation, Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms, Thymoma, Thymus Neoplasms, Animals, Mice
Source:	American Journal of Pathology
ISSN:	0002-9440
Publisher:	American Society for Investigative Pathology
Volume:	148
Number:	5
Page Range:	1359-1365
Date:	May 1996
Official Publication:	http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1861559/?tool=pubmed
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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