Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States.
Front Immunol. 2023 Jan 30;14:1110499. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1110499. eCollection 2023.
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a neuromuscular autoimmune disorder characterized by chronic but intermittent fatigue of the eye- and general body muscles. Muscle weakness is caused primarily by the binding of an autoantibody to the acetylcholine receptors, resulting in blockage of normal neuromuscular signal transmission. Studies revealed substantial contributions of different proinflammatory or inflammatory mediators in the pathogenesis of MG. Despite these findings, compared to therapeutic approaches that target autoantibody and complements, only a few therapeutics against key inflammatory molecules have been designed or tested in MG clinical trials. Recent research focuses largely on identifying unknown molecular pathways and novel targets involved in inflammation associated with MG. A well-designed combination or adjunct treatment utilizing one or more selective and validated promising biomarkers of inflammation as a component of targeted therapy may yield better treatment outcomes. This review briefly discusses some preclinical and clinical findings of inflammation associated with MG and current therapy approaches and suggest the potential of targeting important inflammatory marker(s) along with current monoclonal antibody or antibody fragment based targeted therapies directed to a variety of cell surface receptors.
重症肌无力（MG）是一种神经肌肉自身免疫性疾病，其特征为眼肌和全身肌肉的慢性但间歇性疲劳。肌肉无力主要是由于自身抗体与乙酰胆碱受体结合，导致正常的神经肌肉信号传递受阻。研究表明，不同的促炎或炎症介质在 MG 的发病机制中起着重要作用。尽管有这些发现，但与针对自身抗体和补体的治疗方法相比，只有少数针对 MG 临床试验中关键炎症分子的治疗方法被设计或测试。最近的研究主要集中在确定与 MG 相关炎症的未知分子途径和新靶点。精心设计的联合或辅助治疗方案，利用一种或多种经过选择和验证的有前途的炎症生物标志物作为靶向治疗的一部分，可能会产生更好的治疗效果。本文简要讨论了与 MG 相关的炎症的一些临床前和临床发现以及当前的治疗方法，并提出了靶向重要炎症标志物与当前基于单克隆抗体或抗体片段的针对多种细胞表面受体的靶向治疗相结合的潜力。
