Gasperi, Christiane and Melms, Arthur and Schoser, Benedikt and Zhang, Yina and Meltoranta, Julia and Risson, Valerie and Schaeffer, Laurent and Schalke, Bertold and Kroeger, Stephan (2014) Anti-agrin autoantibodies in myasthenia gravis. NEUROLOGY, 82 (22). pp. 1976-1983. ISSN 0028-3878, 1526-632X
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Objective: Because the extracellular matrix protein agrin is essential for neuromuscular junction formation and maintenance, we tested the hypothesis that autoantibodies against agrin are present in sera from patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). Methods: We determined the presence of anti-agrin antibodies in 54 sera from patients with generalized MG using a solid-phase ELISA with purified mini-agrin protein. Thirty of the 54 sera were seronegative for antibodies against the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) or muscle-specific tyrosine kinase (MuSK), 15 had elevated levels of anti-MuSK, and 9 had elevated levels of anti-AChR autoantibodies. Sixteen sera from healthy volunteers served as control. Results: Five sera with elevated levels of anti-agrin antibodies were identified. The concentration of the antibodies ranged between 0.04 and 0.12 nM. Four of the 5 agrin-positive sera were also positive for anti-MuSK, one was positive for anti-AChR, and 2 had elevated levels of anti-low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 4 (LRP4) autoantibodies. Some of the sera stained adult mouse neuromuscular junctions and reacted with native mini-agrin expressed in 293HEK cells. Conclusions: The results provide evidence for agrin as a novel target protein for autoantibodies in patients with MG. Anti-agrin antibodies were always detected in combination with autoantibodies againstMuSK, LRP4, or AChRs, indicating a high incidence of autoantibodies against several neuromuscular proteins in the agrin-positive MG cases.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | ACETYLCHOLINE-RECEPTOR ANTIBODIES; NEUROMUSCULAR-JUNCTION; MOUSE MODEL; PROTEIN 4; MUSK; MUSCLE; LRP4; MICE; |
| Subjects: | 600 Technology > 610 Medical sciences Medicine |
| Divisions: | Medicine > Lehrstuhl für Neurologie |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 28 Oct 2019 09:18 |
| Last Modified: | 28 Oct 2019 09:18 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/10036 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
