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Elevated frequencies of natural killer T lymphocytes in myasthenia gravis
1Department of Neurology, Eberhard-Karls-University, Tübingen, Germany. reinhard@mpipsykl.mpg.de
T lymphocytes are considered to exert a regulatory function in the development of antiacetylcholine receptor antibodies, but no clear T-cell alterations in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) have yet been found. The authors report a significant increase of recently identified natural killer T lymphocytes expressing T-cell receptor Valpha24. A possible role in disease initiation or maintenance is suggested by the observed strong synthesis of interferon-gamma as well as of interleukin 4.
T lymphocytes are considered to exert a regulatory function in the development of antiacetylcholine receptor antibodies, but no clear T-cell alterations in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) have yet been found. The authors report a significant increase of recently identified natural killer T lymphocytes expressing T-cell receptor Valpha24. A possible role in disease initiation or maintenance is suggested by the observed strong synthesis of interferon-gamma as well as of interleukin 4.