Neoplastic epithelial cells express α‐subunit of muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in thymomas from patients with myasthenia gravis

FEBS Letters

Fujii, Yoshitaka¹  Tarui, Seiichiro²  Uemichi, Tomoyuki²  Ueno, Satoshi²  Hara, Yasuo²  Yorifuji, Shiro²  Takahashi, Nobuyuki² 

[1] The First Department of Surgery, Osaka University Medical School, Osaka 553, Japan;The Second Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Neurology, Osaka University Medical School, Osaka 553, Japan

关键词: Thymoma;    Myasthenia gravis;    Acetylcholine receptor;    mRNA expression;    Polymerase chain reaction;    Epithelial cell;    AChR;    acetylcholine receptor;    MG;    myasthenia gravis;    PCR;    Polymerase cahin reaction;    bp;    base pairs;   

DOI  :  10.1016/0014-5793(91)80268-8

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

We studied the expression of mRNAs coding for the α-subunit of the muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR)in thymomas from patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). Northern blot analysis failed to detect the expression, but amplification of mRNAs derived from thymomas by reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction produced the DNA fragments containing the nucleotide sequence coding of part of the α-subunit. We further revealed that the α-subunit mRNA was derived from neoplastic epithelial cells of thymoma. Our results support the hypothesis that AChR expressed in thymoma is a candidate for the primary antigen which induces autoimmune responses to muscle AChR. The close relationship between MG and thymoma may be at least in part explained by this hypothesis.

【 授权许可】

Unknown