Subsets of lymphoid cells in blood and thymus in myasthenia gravis. Monoclonal antibody analysis.

Lymphoid cell subpopulations in peripheral blood and thymus were analyzed in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) using monoclonal antibodies. The proportion of lymphocytes of T lineage (OKT 3+, OKT 4+, OKT 8+ cells) in peripheral blood of 11 MG patients, was significantly decreased in comparison with controls, but the ratio of OKT 4+/OKT 8+ cells was not different. Thymus cells were studied in 9 patients. The percentage of OKIa 1+ cells was significantly higher in MG thymus than in control thymus (P less than 0.0005). There were no significant differences in the proportions of T lymphocyte subsets between MG and control thymuses.