Marx A, Kirchner T, Greiner A, Müller-Hermelink H K, Schalke B, Osborn M
Institute of Pathology, University of Würzburg, Germany.
Lancet. 1992 Mar 21;339(8795):707-8. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(92)90601-x.
Expression by neoplastic thymic epithelial cells of acetylcholine-receptor (AChR) epitopes is associated with the presence of AChR autoantibodies and the development of myasthenia gravis. We studied thymic tumours from patients with and without myasthenia gravis for the expression of neurofilament epitopes by immunohistochemistry with four monoclonal antibodies. There was very little antibody binding in control samples (healthy thymus, or thymitis) or in medullary and mixed thymomas, but neurofilament epitopes were strongly expressed in all cortical thymomas and thymic carcinomas. In addition, the frequency of serum autoantibodies against axons was significantly higher among myasthenic patients with thymic epithelial tumours than among age-matched controls (7/10 vs 3/50; p less than 0.01).
肿瘤性胸腺上皮细胞表达乙酰胆碱受体（AChR）表位与AChR自身抗体的存在及重症肌无力的发生有关。我们用四种单克隆抗体通过免疫组织化学研究了有无重症肌无力患者的胸腺肿瘤中神经丝表位的表达情况。在对照样本（健康胸腺或胸腺炎）以及髓质型和混合型胸腺瘤中抗体结合极少，但在所有皮质型胸腺瘤和胸腺癌中神经丝表位均强烈表达。此外，患有胸腺上皮肿瘤的肌无力患者血清中抗轴突自身抗体的频率显著高于年龄匹配的对照组（7/10比3/50；p小于0.01）。
