Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROIMMUNOLOGY
Volume 264, Issue 1-2, Pages 114-119Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2013.09.006
Keywords
Myasthenia gravis; Immunology; Autoimmunity; Plasma cells; B cells
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Funding
- German Research Foundation (DFG) [SFB 650, Exc 257]
- Deutsche Gesellschaft filr Muskelkranke (DGM)
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Whether there is a general perturbation of B and plasma cell subsets in myasthenia gravis (MG) has not been investigated so far. Here we performed a detailed flow cytometric analysis of blood and if available thyinic tissue in order to detect MG-specific and therapy-induced changes. We observed significant differences in the distribution of B cell subsets in MG patients, yet these were mainly attributable to medical treatment. Furthermore MG is associated with significantly increased frequencies of plasma cells that were especially activated in purely ocular disease manifestation. In contrast to thymoma, B cell subset distribution in hyperplastic thymus could be distinguished from peripheral blood, however both tissues were not significantly enriched with plasma cells. Thus B cell differentiation in general is not defective in MG, but modified by therapy and enhanced frequencies of plasma cells can be detected in MG patients. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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