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Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Quantification of the Immunosuppressant Tacrolimus on Dried Blood Spots Using LC-MS/MS
Published on: November 8, 2015
Beneficial effect of tacrolimus on myasthenia gravis with thymoma
Takao Mitsui1, Makoto Kunishige, Michiko Ichimiya
1Department of Medicine and Bioregulatory Sciences, University of Tokushima Graduate School of Medicine, Tokushima, Japan. tmitsui@clin.med.tokushima-u.ac.jp
Abstract:
We examined the effect of tacrolimus on myasthenia gravis (MG). Five patients with thymoma and 5 patients without thymoma underwent prior thymectomy but showed persistent myasthenic symptoms. Oral administration with tacrolimus significantly improved MG scores 1, 3, and 6 months following the beginning of treatment in all patients (P < 0.05), and the improvement was significantly higher in the thymoma group compared with the nonthymoma group (P < 0.05). However, there was no significant change in antiacetylcholine receptor titers in either group. This indicates a particular application of immunosuppressive therapy for thymomatous MG following thymectomy.
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