Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
1999-8-31
pubmed:abstractText
Intratumorous expression of a 153-kd protein (p153), which contains an acetylcholine receptor-like epitope, is the only tumor marker described to date that significantly associates with thymoma in paraneoplastic myasthenia gravis (MG). Here, we report that p153 is identical to the midsize neurofilament, as verified by immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and western blot analysis. Furthermore, the acetylcholine receptor-like epitope of the midsize neurofilament (NF-M) was identified by peptide epitope mapping. We also show, using T-cell proliferation assays, a significantly increased response of intratumorous T cells to a recombinant midsize neurofilament fragment in thymoma patients with MG compared with MG patients with thymic follicular hyperplasia or thymoma patients without MG. The T cells of thymic follicular hyperplasia and thymoma patients without MG seem to be unresponsive to NF-M. In contrast, we found increased T-cell responses to recombinant acetylcholine receptor fragments in MG patients in general compared with non-MG patients. Increased T-cell responses to NF-M in patients with paraneoplastic MG might be the result of an abnormal positive selection of immature T cells within thymomas, caused by the expression of NF-M in neoplastic thymic epithelial cells. Our results offer further evidence that NF-M expression in thymomas is an autoantigenic determinant in MG.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Aug
pubmed:issn
0364-5134
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
46
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
167-75
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1999
pubmed:articleTitle
Neurofilament is an autoantigenic determinant in myasthenia gravis.
pubmed:affiliation
Institute of Pathology, University of Würzburg, Germany.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't