Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
J Neuroimmunol. 2021 Sep 15;358:577634. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2021.577634. Epub 2021 Jun 17.
Myasthenia gravis (MG), a neuromuscular junction disorder, is caused by pathogenic autoantibodies. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) plays important roles in T helper 17 (Th17), T follicular helper (Tfh), and B cell activations as well as in antibody production. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of serum IL-6 level as a biomarker of disease activity in patients with anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody-positive MG. In the present study, serum IL-6 levels were measured in 93 treatment-naïve patients with anti-AChR antibody-positive MG and compared with those in 101 controls. Moreover, correlations between serum IL-6 levels and clinical characteristics were analyzed. Serum IL-6 levels were significantly higher in patients with anti-AChR antibody-positive MG than in controls (median [interquartile range], 2.5 [1.5-8.3] pg/mL vs. 1.5 [1.5-3.2] pg/mL, P < 0.001). The serum levels were correlated with the MG Foundation of America clinical classification (Spearman's ρ = 0.27; P < 0.01) and decreased following immunosuppressive treatment in parallel with disease activity (P = 0.01). In conclusion, IL-6 is involved in the pathogenesis of anti-AChR antibody-positive MG and could be a therapeutic target in MG.
重症肌无力（MG）是一种神经肌肉接头疾病，由致病性自身抗体引起。白细胞介素 6（IL-6）在辅助性 T 细胞 17（Th17）、滤泡辅助性 T（Tfh）和 B 细胞激活以及抗体产生中发挥重要作用。本研究旨在评估血清 IL-6 水平作为抗乙酰胆碱受体（AChR）抗体阳性 MG 患者疾病活动的生物标志物的临床意义。本研究测量了 93 例未经治疗的抗 AChR 抗体阳性 MG 患者和 101 例对照者的血清 IL-6 水平，并分析了血清 IL-6 水平与临床特征之间的相关性。与对照组相比，抗 AChR 抗体阳性 MG 患者的血清 IL-6 水平显著升高（中位数[四分位数间距]，2.5[1.5-8.3] pg/mL 比 1.5[1.5-3.2] pg/mL，P<0.001）。血清水平与美国重症肌无力基金会临床分类相关（Spearman's ρ=0.27；P<0.01），并随疾病活动而降低（P=0.01）。总之，IL-6 参与了抗 AChR 抗体阳性 MG 的发病机制，可能成为 MG 的治疗靶点。
Zotero 插件