Abstract
MYASTHENIA gravis, a disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness, is thought to be an autoimmune process, patients having an increased incidence of other autoimmune diseases1. They have autoantibodies directed against the A-band striations of skeletal muscle2 which cross react with myoid cells in the thymic medulla3. Thymic abnormalities are consistently found. Sloan4, in the first detailed account of the histopathology of the thymus in myasthenia gravis, found lymphoid germinal centres in the medulla in seven of ten cases and increased lymphocytes in the medulla in all cases. This latter finding has received little emphasis from subsequent investigators, perhaps because of the difficulties of detecting an increase of lymphocytes in an organ that already contains many of them. Besides the increased density and larger size of lymphoid germinal centres in the thymic medulla5 10 per cent of these patients also have thymomas6.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Simpson, J. A., Scot. Med. J., 5, 419 (1960).
Strauss, A. J. L., Seegal, B. C., Hsu, K. C., Burkholder, P. M., Nastuk, W. L., and Osserman, K. E., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. and Med., 105, 184 (1960).
Van der Geld, H. W. R., Feltkamp, T. E. W., Van Loghem, J. J., and Oosterhuis, H. J. G. H., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. and Med., 115, 782 (1964).
Sloan, jun., H. E., Surgery, 13, 154 (1943).
Middleton, G., Austral. J. Exp. Biol. Med. Sci., 45, 189 (1967).
Castleman, B., and Norris, E. H., Medicine, 26, 27 (1949).
Thorbecke, G. J., and Cohen, M. W., in The Thymus (edit. by Defendi, V., and Metcalf, D.), 33 (Wistar Institute Press, Philadelphia, 1964).
Harris, T. N., Rhoads, J. R., and Stokes, J. A., J. Immunol., 58, 27 (1948).
Kennedy, J. C., Simonovitch, L., Till, J. E., and McCullough, E. A., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. and Med., 120, 868 (1965).
Knight, S., Bradley, J., Oppenheim, J. J., and Ling, N. R., Clin. Exp. Immunol., 3, 323 (1968).
Winkelstein, A., and Craddock, C. G., Blood, 29, 594 (1967).
Oppenheim, J. J., Fed. Proc., 27, 21 (1968).
Weber, W. T., J. Cell Physiol., 68, 117 (1966).
Claman, H. N., and Brunstetter, F. H., J. Immunol., 100, 1127 (1968).
Goldstein, G., and Whittingham, S., Lancet, ii, 315 (1966).
Goldstein, G., and Whittingham, S., Clin. Exp. Immunol., 2, 257 (1967).
Goldstein, G., Lancet, ii, 119 (1968).
Goldstein, G., Strauss, A. J. L., and Pickeral, S., Clin. Exp. Immunol., 4, 3 (1969).
Oppenheim, J. J., Wolstencroft, R. A., and Gell, P. G. H., Immunology, 12, 89 (1967).
Mishell, R. I., and Dutton, R. W., J. Exp. Med., 126, 423 (1967).
Rose, N. R., and Witebsky, E., J. Immunol., 76, 417 (1956).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
OPPENHEIM, J., GOLDSTEIN, G. Enhanced Thymic Lymphocyte Response to Phytohaemagglutinin in Experimental Autoimmune Thymitis. Nature 222, 192–193 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/222192a0
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/222192a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.