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Neoplastic epithelial cells express α‐subunit of muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in thymomas from patients with myasthenia gravis
Author(s) -
Hara Yasuo,
Ueno Satoshi,
Uemichi Tomoyuki,
Takahashi Nobuyuki,
Yorifuji Shiro,
Fujii Yoshitaka,
Tarui Seiichiro
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(91)80268-8
Subject(s) - myasthenia gravis , thymoma , acetylcholine receptor , nicotinic acetylcholine receptor , protein subunit , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction , messenger rna , western blot , receptor , pathology , endocrinology , immunology , gene , medicine , biochemistry
We studied the expression of mRNAs coding for the α‐subunit of the muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR)in thymomas from patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). Northern blot analysis failed to detect the expression, but amplification of mRNAs derived from thymomas by reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction produced the DNA fragments containing the nucleotide sequence coding of part of the α‐subunit. We further revealed that the α‐subunit mRNA was derived from neoplastic epithelial cells of thymoma. Our results support the hypothesis that AChR expressed in thymoma is a candidate for the primary antigen which induces autoimmune responses to muscle AChR. The close relationship between MG and thymoma may be at least in part explained by this hypothesis.