Microenvironments in the normal thymus and the thymus in myasthenia gravis.

The disposition of epithelial cells and extracellular matrix, in the thymus of 8 cases of myasthenia gravis (MG) and in controls (over a wide age range) was studied. In the controls, the subcapsular epithelium was strongly Leu-7-positive in the fetus, negative in childhood, and positive again in adults. Another antibody, RFD4, also labeled the subcapsular epithelium in childhood and adults, but not fetal samples. The samples from MG cases showed the same staining pattern as adult control samples. The medullary epithelium was also RFD4+, and at all ages. The most striking changes in the advanced cases of MG were the unusual arrangement and hypertrophic appearance of medullary epithelial cell areas, separated by laminin-positive basement membranes from the alternating multiple bands of peripheral lymph-node-like areas. The latter had regions resembling the paracortex of lymph nodes as well as germinal centers (GCs). The T-cell zones contained heavy deposits of fibronectin. These T-cell zones were unique to the thymus in MG and were absent in the two normal thymic samples with isolated GCs. In MG the laminin-containing basement membrane, which separated the medullary epithelial and peripheral lymph-node-like areas, was fenestrated at circumscribed points closest to the GCs, thus apparently permitting communication among the medullary epithelium, the T-cell zones, the GCs and the associated antigen-presenting cells. Large numbers of interdigitating cells and some lymphocytes of cortical thymocyte phenotype were also found at these special sites, where opportunities for autosensitization may persist in MG.