T Lymphocytes Specific for Acetylcholine Receptor: Isolation from Thymuses of Myasthenia Gravis Patients

Abstract

In myasthenia gravis there is evidence suggesting that intrathymic activation of specific T-cell subsets initiates an autoimmune response against the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) (1). The role of these autoimmune T-lymphocytes is less understood than the function of humoral antibodies against the AChR, whose production has been demonstrated in various lymphatic tissues including the thymus (2, 3). Recently AChR-specific T-lymphocytes could be isolated in six patients from peripheral blood (4). These T-lymphocytes could be shown to be members of the helper/inducer subset, which is essentially involved in helping B-lymphocytes to produce antibodies, e.g., against AChR.