[Incidence of SLE in a patient thymectomized for myasthenia gravis]

The appearance of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) as well as thymopoietin (TP3) treatment in a patient who has undergone thymectomy because of myasthenia gravis (MG) is described. To the authors' knowledge this is the first case of this treatment upon the diagnoses above. The therapy was performed for 12 weeks by the Hungarian Thymotrinan (TP3) preparate according to a previous protocol worked out for Hodgkin's disease. At the beginning and during therapy, cellular and humoral immune parameters were monitored. Twenty months after the therapy the patient has remained in clinical remission for both diseases, MG and SLE, respectively. There is a brief survey of the biochemistry of thymic hormones as well as their clinical use, especially in the treatment of autoimmune disorders. The relative rarity of SLE after operative treatment of MG is under discussion together with the effectiveness of substitutional thymic hormone therapy.