Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0409974 (lupus)
 22,386 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

6 years after resection and postirradiation of an "asymptomatic" thymoma, myasthenia gravis developed in a 46 year old man which improved within 6 months following initiation of immunosuppressive therapy with azathioprine. In a 28 year old man with incomplete operative removal of a metastasizing malignant thymoma, a myasthenia gravis appeared 8 weeks after surgery, i.e. before irradiation of the tumor relics. Myasthenia improved upon irradiation of the tumor relics and was no longer demonstrable one year after onset of its clinical signs. During the whole period of manifestation of the myasthenia, antibodies to skeletal muscle were deomonstrated in the first case, while, in the second case, in which antinuclear factors were present in the serum throughout the course of the myasthenia, muscular antibodies were detected only prefinally, i.e. in a stage without clinical symptoms of myasthenia. A review of the literature indicates that myasthenia gravis is a particularly frequent event in postthymectomy-syndromes (e.g. polymyositis, thyreoiditis, lupus erythematosus, hematological and dermatological syndromes). In postthymectomy-myasthenia, latency of manifestation, clinical distribution and its course may be rather variable. The problems of diagnosis, immunology and therapy of postthymectomy-myasthenia are discussed and general conclusions concerning postthymectomy-syndromes are drawn.
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PMID:[Problems of postthymectomy-syndromes, e.g. myasthenia gravis (author's transl)]. 30 37

Immunological investigations concerning pathological autoantibodies and defects of humoral immunity were performed in 7 patients with thymomas, 5 of which showed invasive growth. The number of B and T lymphocytes in blood was determined at the same time using membrane markers as well as blood lymphocyte stimulation with phytohaemagglutinine. Two of the 3 patients with auto-antibodies against striated muscles or nuclei showed the clinical signs of accompanying disease (myasthenia gravis, lupus erythematodes). A humoral immunodisturbance with IgM deficiency was demonstrable in one patient and was accompanied by clinical symptoms. Lymphopenia with decreased numbers and functional disturbance of T and B lymphocytes could be shown in the majority of patients. Immunological investigations simplify proof of accompanying diseases in thymomas. These represent an important prognostic criterium in the same way as does invasive growth.
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PMID:[Thymomas (author's transl)]. 30 88

Occasional reports have appeared in the literature describing a relationship between pemphigus vulgaris and malignancy (Krain & Bierman, 1974; Tagami et al., 1976). Carcinoma of the ovary, stomach, breast, endometrium and bronchus have all been associated with pemphigus (Krain, 1974). The association between pemphigus and thymoma is well known (Stillmand & Baer, 1972). Pemphigus has also been described in connection with various lymphoproliferative malignancies (Naysmith & Hancock, 1976). The purpose of this paper is to describe a patient who suffered from a rare retroperitoneal tumour in association with pemphigus vulgaris. His serum contained a high titre of anti-skeletal muscle antibody, although he showed no clinical manifestations of myasthenia gravis. He also had immunological manifestations suggestive of lupus erythematosus.
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PMID:Co-existence of pemphigus, anti-skeletal muscle antibody and a retroperitoneal paraganglioma. 70 17

During a period of 20 years, 19 patients with thymomas and 5 with thymic cysts were surgically treated at this clinic. Excluding one operative death, none of these patients had died of causes related to the tumour 7.4 years (average) after operation. Two patients had died of unrelated causes, and in one case a recurrent mediastinal tumour was observed 3.5 years postoperatively. Myasthenia gravis, present at the time of operation in 3 cases, had been alleviated in one case, remained unchanged in another and become aggravated in the third case. In addition, one patient had developed myasthenia 7 years after resection of thymoma. In one case, a preoperative tentative diagnosis of lupus erythematosus disseminatus had been confirmed. Infiltrative growth was mascroscopically observed in only 2 cases. One of these patients died of haemorrhage during the operation; the other patient was in good health 1.5 years after partial resection and subsequent irradiation of the tumour. Four patients received radiotherapy. In one of the 15 cases treated solely by operation, the tumour fell to pieces on resection; a recurrent mediastinal tumour (cf. above) was removed 3,5 years later.
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PMID:Thymomas and thymic cysts. 84 24

Demonstration of autoimmune antibodies to myocardial tissue enables one to detect and assess cardiac disease long after abnormalities in serum enzyme activities are no longer measurable. We describe and indirect immunofluorescence procedure in which cryostat sections of rat heart (ventricle) and Evan's Blue counterstaining are used to detect anti-myocardial antibodies. Sena from patients with myocardial infarct or some other cardiac diseases reveal a distinct fluorescent staining of the sarcolemmal membrane. In contrast, sera from patients with systemic lupus erythematosis demonstrate nuclear plus diffuse staining and sera from myasthenia gravis patients show a characteristic striated staining pattern. The role of anti-myocardial antibodies in cardiac disease is discussed briefly.
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PMID:Immunofluorescence method for detecting anti-myocardial antibodies, and its use in diagnosing heart disease. 110 14

Seven patients with myasthenia gravis developed clinical signs of arthropathy. In two patients, the symptoms were due to a deforming rheumatoid arthritis and the myasthenic symptoms appeared as a transitory phase during the course of the disease. Muscle antibodies of IgG class were demonstrated with sera from both patients. Autoreactivity between muscle antibodies and rheumatoid factor was detected in one patient. Both patients died from sudden cardiac failure. Necropsy was performed in one and revealed a spotty myocardial necrosis. One patient had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Two patients had mild articular symptoms with indices of multivisceral disease and serological findings indicating a systemic lupus erythematous. One patient had classical ankylosing spondylitis, and one, unspecified arthropathy.
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PMID:Arthritis in myasthenia gravis. 110 89

Clinical and histopathological aspects of 241 thymomas were reviewed. One hundred sixty of the patients with thymoma had myasthenia gravis and 15 had other autoimmune diseases; 55% of the thymomas were encapsulated and 45% invasive. Operation was radical resection in 87.5% of the patients, subtotal resection with residual tumor in 8.7%, and simple biopsy in 3.7%. A tumor relapse was observed in 24 patients (10%): 2 (1.5%) of 133 with encapsulated thymomas and 22 (20.4%) of 108 with invasive thymomas; among these patients, a relapse was found in 20.6% of the patients who received radiotherapy postoperatively and in 24.6% who did not. Adverse prognostic factors were clinical stage IVa (multiple pleural nodes), not feasible resection (for technical reasons), inoperable tumor relapse, and association with one of the following autoimmune diseases: pure red cell aplasia, hypogammaglobulinemia, and lupus erythematosus. Conversely, myasthenia gravis is now a curable disease; it contributes to early discovery of associated thymoma, thus allowing a better survival for patients with thymoma who have myasthenia gravis compared with patients with thymoma but without myasthenia gravis (p less than 0.05). Postoperative radiotherapy does not seem necessary after removal of encapsulated thymomas, but it is advisable in case of invasive thymomas, regardless of the extent of the resection.
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PMID:Thymoma: results of 241 operated cases. 206 55

A woman with a four-year history of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) developed myasthenia gravis (MG). The clinical features of lupus disappeared slowly while the myasthenic syndrome became predominant. However, her serum was positive for anti-DNA and anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies. Cross-reactivity between anti-DNA antibodies and anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies was not demonstrated, suggesting the presence of two different populations. A cellular immunology profile was normal as expected in MG and in contrast to SLE. Conceivably, SLE and MG might represent two opposite extremes in the spectrum of autoimmune diseases.
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PMID:Coexistence of systemic lupus erythematosus and myasthenia gravis: two distinct populations of anti-DNA and anti-acetylcholine receptor antibodies. 234 38

In vivo therapy with monoclonal antibody (mAb) GK1.5, which recognizes a glycoprotein antigen designated L3T4 on murine helper T lymphocytes, either prevented or suppressed the development of murine lupus, autoimmune encephalomyelitis, and collagen arthritis. The L3T4 antigen in the mouse is analogous to the human Leu-3/T4 antigen expressed on helper T lymphocytes, because they both participate in the T cell response to class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens. Class II MHC genes and I-A antigens mediate murine experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG) induced by acetylcholine receptor (AChR) autoimmunity. We studied the efficacy of mAb GK1.5 as an immunotherapeutic agent for murine EAMG. Therapy with mAb GK1.5 not only suppressed established autoimmunity to AChR but also prevented loss of muscle AChR in mice with EAMG. Moreover, permanent remission of clinical muscle weakness was induced if mAb GK1.5 therapy was initiated after the onset of clinical disease. Because the function of the Leu-3/T4 determinant on human helper T lymphocytes is analogous to the murine L3T4 determinant, use of antibody to the Leu-3/T4 determinant as an immunotherapeutic agent may provide a way to control the progression of human MG.
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PMID:Immunotherapy for myasthenia gravis: a murine model. 241 35

We describe the cutaneous disorders in 172 patients with thymoma. Myasthenia gravis was the most common additional disease. Cutaneous disorders were found in 34 patients; 19 had skin disorders at the time of diagnosis of thymoma and 15 developed skin disorders after diagnosis of thymoma. Cutaneous fungal diseases were found in fewer than 10% of the patients (tinea pedis excluded). One patient with chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis was included in this group. Two patients with lichen planus, 2 with pemphigus, 2 with myositis, and 1 with lupus-like disease were also included in this study. Patients with skin disorders were no different than patients without these disorders with regard to thymoma histology, age at diagnosis, sex, or presence of myasthenia gravis. There were no associations between these variables and the patients who developed these skin disorders after diagnosis of thymoma. Thymectomy did not alter the clinical course with respect to cutaneous diseases.
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PMID:Dermatologic disorders in patients with thymoma. 244 57


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