Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
    • Video Abstracts
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Complement Biology and Therapeutics (May 2025)
    • Evolving insights into MASLD and MASH pathogenesis and treatment (Apr 2025)
    • Microbiome in Health and Disease (Feb 2025)
    • Substance Use Disorders (Oct 2024)
    • Clonal Hematopoiesis (Oct 2024)
    • Sex Differences in Medicine (Sep 2024)
    • Vascular Malformations (Apr 2024)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Clinical Research and Public Health
    • Research Letters
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Commentaries
    • Editor's notes
    • Reviews
    • Viewpoints
    • 100th anniversary
    • Top read articles

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Video Abstracts
  • In-Press Preview
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Research Letters
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Editorials
  • Commentaries
  • Editor's notes
  • Reviews
  • Viewpoints
  • 100th anniversary
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact

Submit a comment

Thymus in myasthenia gravis. Isolation of T-lymphocyte lines specific for the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor from thymuses of myasthenic patients.
A Melms, … , E Albert, H Wekerle
A Melms, … , E Albert, H Wekerle
Published March 1, 1988
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 1988;81(3):902-908. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI113401.
View: Text | PDF
Research Article Article has an altmetric score of 3

Thymus in myasthenia gravis. Isolation of T-lymphocyte lines specific for the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor from thymuses of myasthenic patients.

  • Text
  • PDF
Abstract

The thymus is believed to play a central role in the pathogenesis of Myasthenia gravis (MG). According to a previous hypothesis, MG is initiated within the thymus by immunogenic presentation of locally produced nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) to potentially autoimmune T cells. Data of 10 consecutive MG patients demonstrate two critical features of MG thymuses that support the concept of intrathymic activation of autoreactive, AChR-specific lymphocytes. Morphologically, the thymuses showed lympho-follicular hyperplasia in nine cases and benign thymoma in one case. The paramount feature revealed by immunohistological double marker analyses was the intimate association of myoid cells (antigen producing) with interdigitating reticulum cells (potentially antigen presenting cells), both of which were surrounded by T3+ lymphocytes in thymus medulla. All 10 thymuses contained T lymphocytes reactive with AChR. This was in contrast to the peripheral immune compartment (blood) where in only 3 of 10 patients, significant T cell responses to AChR were observed. AChR-specific T cell lines could be established from 8 of 10 thymuses, all members of the helper/inducer subset as indicated by the expression of markers T3 and T4.

Authors

A Melms, B C Schalke, T Kirchner, H K Müller-Hermelink, E Albert, H Wekerle

×

Guidelines

The Editorial Board will only consider comments that are deemed relevant and of interest to readers. The Journal will not post data that have not been subjected to peer review; or a comment that is essentially a reiteration of another comment.

  • Comments appear on the Journal’s website and are linked from the original article’s web page.
  • Authors are notified by email if their comments are posted.
  • The Journal reserves the right to edit comments for length and clarity.
  • No appeals will be considered.
  • Comments are not indexed in PubMed.

Specific requirements

  • Maximum length, 400 words
  • Entered as plain text or HTML
  • Author’s name and email address, to be posted with the comment
  • Declaration of all potential conflicts of interest (even if these are not ultimately posted); see the Journal’s conflict-of-interest policy
  • Comments may not include figures
This field is required
This field is required
This field is required
This field is required
This field is required
This field is required
Rich Text Editor, eletter_body
Editor toolbarsClipboard/Undo CutKeyboard shortcut Ctrl+X CopyKeyboard shortcut Ctrl+C PasteKeyboard shortcut Ctrl+V Paste as plain textKeyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V Paste from Word UndoKeyboard shortcut Ctrl+Z RedoKeyboard shortcut Ctrl+YEditing Find Replace Select All Spell Check As You TypeLinks LinkKeyboard shortcut Ctrl+K Unlink AnchorForms Form Checkbox Radio Button Text Field Textarea Selection Field Button Image Button Hidden FieldTools Maximize Show BlocksDocument Source Save New Page Preview Print TemplatesBasic Styles BoldKeyboard shortcut Ctrl+B ItalicKeyboard shortcut Ctrl+I UnderlineKeyboard shortcut Ctrl+U Strikethrough Subscript Superscript Copy FormattingKeyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+C Remove FormatParagraph Insert/Remove Numbered List Insert/Remove Bulleted List Decrease Indent Increase Indent Block Quote Create Div Container Align Left Center Align Right Justify Text direction from left to right Text direction from right to left Set languageStylesStylesStylesFormatFormatFontFontSizeSizeColors Text Color Background Color
Press ALT 0 for help
◢Elements path 

Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts

Referenced in 1 patents
24 readers on Mendeley
See more details