In:
Blood, American Society of Hematology, Vol. 100, No. 1 ( 2002-07-01), p. 159-166
Abstract:
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is the leading paraneoplastic manifestation of thymomas and is probably related to the capacity of thymomas to mature and export potentially autoreactive T cells. Why some thymomas are MG associated (MG+) and others are not (MG−) has been unclear. We addressed this question by comparing the percentages of intratumorous naive mature CD45RA+ thymocytes in 9 MG(+) and in 13 MG(−) thymomas by fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis. Our results show that intratumorous naive CD4 T cells were present in all MG(+) thymomas and in one MG(−) thymoma with the development of MG only 2 months after surgery. By contrast, the percentage of naive CD4+ T cells was significantly reduced in all 13 MG(−) thymomas (P & lt; .0001). Alterations in intratumorous thymopoiesis were reflected by corresponding alterations of naive T-cell subset composition in the blood, in that only MG(−) patients had significantly decreased levels (P = .02) of naive CD4+ T cells compared with age- and sex-matched control persons. We conclude that paraneoplastic MG is highly associated with the efficiency of thymomas to produce and export naive CD4+T cells. The acquisition of the CD45RA+ phenotype on CD4+ T cells during terminal intratumorous thymopoiesis is associated with the presence of MG in most thymoma patients.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1528-0020
,
0006-4971
DOI:
10.1182/blood.V100.1.159
Language:
English
Publisher:
American Society of Hematology
Publication Date:
2002
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1468538-3
detail.hit.zdb_id:
80069-7
Bookmarklink